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THE GIANT JUDGE: 



STORY OF SAMSON, 



HEBRE 




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By Rev. W. A. SCOTT, D.D. 



OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



-" There will I build him 



A monument, 

With all his trophies hung-, and acts enroll'd 

In copious legend, or sweet lyrick song. 

Thither shall all the valiant youth resort, 

And from his memory inflame their breasts 

To matchless valor, and adventures high : 

The virgins also shall, on feastml days, 

Visit his tomb with flowers." — Ilanoah Burying Samson. 



SAN FRANCISCO: 

WHITTON, TOWNE & CO., PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, 

No. 151 Clay Street, near Montgomery. 

1858. 



0S5SO 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year of our Lord, 1858, 

By WHITTON, TOWNE & CO. 

For the Author, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United 

States, for the Northern District of California. 



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ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1 SAMSON TAKEN BY THE PHILISTINES, 1 

2 MANOAHS SACRIFICE, 21 

3 CLAY TABLET FROM SINKARA, 166 

4 SAMSON RENDING THE LION AS A KID, 168 

5 SAMSON FINDING THE HONEY, 177 

6 THE FOXES, 216 

7 SAMSON CARRYING OFF THE GATES OF GAZA, 240 

8 ASLEEP IN DELILAH'S LAP, 257 

9 THE UPRIGHT LOOM, 259 

10 BARBERS OPERATING, 261 

11 PUTTING OUT HIS EYES, 270 

12 SAMSON GRINDING AT THE MILL, 273 

13 DAGON, 291 

14 THE FISH GOD, 292 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE I. 

THE HERO'S WONDERFUL STORY TOLD. 

Israel's social condition— A Deliverer promised— The Angel's visits— Man- 
oah's solicitude— His Sacrifice — The domestic conference— Samson's 
visit to Timnath and the espousal— The lion adventure and the bees— 
The wedding riddle and the tragedy— The foxes— The hip and thigh 
slaughter— The jaw-bone massacre — The giant Judge in toils at Gaza — 
He visits Sorek— Surrenders to Delilah's fascinations — His repentance 
—The fearful catastrophe , 29 

CHAPTER II. 

THE HEROIC JUDGES AND THEIR TIMES. 

All the facts recorded in such a part of the Bible as the "Book of Judges" 
not necessarily of a direct religious bearing, yet of great value. The 
times of the HebreAv Judges a striking commentary on the necessity of 
a permanent government— The term Judges — They were magistrates — 
Jehovah's lieutenant-generals — Represented by Suffetes of the Cartha- 
ginian and Arabian Sheikhs— Sheikh, Rais, Elder, Captain derived — 
The Judges were not hereditary nor chosen by the people— They left 
no successors, nor had they any predecessor's — Samson's history most 
wondrous even in an extraordinary age — His whole history a struggle 
between duty and passion— a conflict between the fixed principles in- 
stilled into his mind by his pious parents and his besetting lusts — Our 
story an epic — "Samson Agonistes" a splendid drama — His strength 
supernatural, and not owing to his hair, or to the size of his body — Giant 
only in strength — His peculiarities human, but developed in an extra- 
ordinary measure, as Saul was of the people but above them in stature 
— Samson's spiritual history only a skeleton — Dr. Bruce's biography of 
Samson — His analysis of his character — Many people not so well ac- 
quainted with his character as they suppose — His history is something 
more than that of " the Scottish Chiefs." Samson and Hercules— 
The disadvantages under which the Hebrew is compared with the 



VI CONTENTS. 



Greek — The Hebrew is the original— Some parallel points between the 
Hebrew and the Greek Hercules — Authors referred to for full particu- 
lars on these points— Bible biographies are truthful, but the sins of its 
heroes are not approved of— The apostle commends only their faith in 
God „ 35 

CHAPTER III. 

THE STOEY A EEVELATION INSPIEED. 

This topic belongs preeminently to our times — Scottish theology on the 
Scottish mind— Hugh Miller's estimate of the pulpit— The ministry has 
furnished the pabulum of Scotland— The old way of teaching the people 
still desirable— Bible biographies chequered, because true to life and 
adapted to our capacities — Not to be read as school-boy tales or fanciful 
stories, but as the memoirs of the lives of men — true men who lived in 
our Avorld, and lived for us, and with whom we are in actual sympathy 
— The Old Testament is depreciated from two som - ces, by early heretics 
and by over-zealous converts— Spencer and his opponents— The true 
view of the typical character of the Old Testament — Indifference to 
spiritual religion lies at" the bottom of this neglect of the Old Testament 
— The attack of Hume and of the French Encyclopaedists was against 
Christianity — Now the attack is against the Becords of it— The Bible 
contains a Eevelation from God, and is that Eevelation— The Eecord is 
reliable and its meaning can be ascertained — The Bible is a connected, 
harmonious history, and not a myth or a fafrle— Its main design— Short- 
comings of its heroes to be expected from a full face picture — The infirm- 
ities of Bible men faithfully recorded, but not approved — The honesty 
of the Avriters— Morell on their imperfections— The Bible not a failure. 51 

CHAPTER IV. 

SAMSON'S PAEENTS— THE HEEO PEOMISED. 

The Philistines, whence came they ?— The name Palestine derived from 
them — Its meaning— Caphtor, is it Crete? — The forty years' oppression 
— Meaning of the Lord " delivered " or " sold " them into the hands of 
the Philistines — " God sovereign and man free." — St. Augustine on the 
sense in which God "hardens" a sinner's heart— God's authority the 
end of controversy — Samson's father and mother — Their character — 
The angel's address to Manoah's wife — The prohibition laid upon her— 
The Divine rule in regard to supernatural help— The Nazarite— Not a 
Nazarene, nor a hermit — Bishop Hall on the temperance of Samson's 
mother — Special holiness for special divine missions — The hero child 
only " to begin " the deliverance— Jacob prophesied of Samson on his 
death bed — Afflictions are God's gracious opportunities — Why the angel 
appeared to the woman-wife rather than to the husband— Intense desire 
in the East for children— Dedication of our children to God— Their edu- 
cation begins before they are born— Hereditary character, physical and 
moral— proper idea of training youth— Parental example— Instruction 
and prayer— Manoah our teacher— Where we may find help for our 
great work— His strong faith and prompt obedience 75 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTEE V. 

CHRIST IN THE THEOrilANIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

" The Angel of the Lord " is Jehovah, the Sent One—" The Wonderful" 
of Isaiah, and the same who revealed himself as the Lord God of the 
patriarchs— God is invisible, yet has made some manifestations of Him- 
self palpable to the senses— The Angel-Jehovah is the Messiah, who is 
the Christ of the New Testament— The Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments are an organized and complete whole — a revelation from 
God teaching one and the same religion— Trench on past development- 
Lee on Inspiration— The Old Testament not a failure— The Logos, the 
Revealer in all dispensations— but especially identified with the Angel- 
Jehovah— The Messiah— Christ is the Sent One of both Testaments— 
Dr. Mill and Olshausen on the fulfilling of the Law — Lessons of this chap- 
ter— 1st. Vindication of the plan of Divine Revelation— Our Lord ful- 
filled, did not destroy— The Old Testament is the basis of the New— It is 
the landscape whose beauties can only be seen by the light of the Gos- 
pel— 2nd. The Old Testament therefore to be studied as well as the 
New — 3rd. We are very near to God in both Testaments — but nearer in 
the New than in the Old — 4th. A pilgrim-like air is breathed upon us 
from Bible studies— Are we travelling home to God and going to meet 
our kindred that have past over Jordan ? — 5th. How wonderful and 
gracious is the divine condescension ! 101 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE FAMILY SACRIFICE AND CONFERENCE. 

The angel's interview with Manoah and his wife— Does not deny that he 
was God, but speaks and is spoken to, and of, as he appeared to be, " a 
man of God." — Manoah authorized to offer divine worship — The angel's 
name is "WONDERFUL' '—The sacrifice on the rock— The domes- 
tic conference after the angel leaves them — The popular idea that a 
man could not see God and live — Manoah's alarm characteristic of the 
human heart— The wife's orthodox reply — The safe rule — A suspicion 
of God's sincerity in the Gospel is an impeachment of his infinite good- 
ness—All needful grace implied in the offer of a SAVIOUR— Consola- 
tion for the aged 127 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE LIFE OF THE HERO BEGUN. 

The name, Samson— Divine blessings early descended upon him— Divine 
influence both gracious and miraculous — The same Spirit now regener- 
ates — The Spirit moving him in the training camp— Great hopes not re- 
alized — Plato on the importance of early education — Neglect of family 
education a prevailing error — The tendency to lawlessness must be cor- 
rected at home— Imperishableness of early impressions — HOME is the 
fountain of sweet influences — All history speaks with one voice on this 
subject— Mere institutions are not sufficient— They are nothing without 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



character — The " tones that will haunt us "— Randolph's safety against 
French Atheism — Lesson and encouragement for parents and Sabbath 
School Teachers— Family training — Young men govern America — They 
are chiefly educated at home— Retribution on parents — What can be 
done to prevent crime — Sunday schools not substitutes for home train- 
ing— Our Homes must be saved — Home the seat of love 139 

CHAPTER VIII. 

SAMSON'S FIRST LOVE — THE LION FIGHT. 

The visit to Timnath — Disappointed in Samson's choice — " The last reason" 
of lovers— Force of "she pleaseth me well"— The pious parents yield 
to the head-strong son— Still Samson was not wholly wanting in filial 
reverence — The Philistines not doomed Canaanites— In what sense his 
choice of the Timnite girl was " of the Lord " — Was Samson sincere in 
his love ? — God is sovereign and man free— Samson not possessed of 
prescience — Must distinguish between what God moves us to do, and 
our moving ourselves — The Israelites had just cause to shake off the 
Philistine j r oke— The damsel betrothed — Oriental custom illustrated by 
our aborigines — Encounter with a lion — Tablet from Sinkara — Such en- 
counters with lions not uncommon — Samson not " a tongue-doughty 
knight, " b ut a man of deeds rather than of words 155 

CHAPTER IX. 

SWEETNESS OUT OF THE STRONG. 

Going to the wedding — The pleasant surprise — Hebrew name for bees ex- 
presses their skill in government— It is well to observe Providences- 
Samson's astonishment at finding honey in the lion's carcass — Virgil, 
Varro and Aristotle on bees in carcasses — The lion only a skeleton — 
Kinman's elk-horn chair — Samson did not violate his Nazarite vow in 
taking the honey— Christians have a right to the good things of the 
world which God gives them to enjoy with thankfulness — Strange 
that Samson should marry a heathen— Piety is the glory of a woman— 
M. Thiers on the women of the Bourbons— Remarkable deterioration 
in the stature of the French army— Causes— Polygamy not designed in 
the creation — Samson had been a better citizen as the husband of a 
HebreAV woman— Woman's influence on society 171 

CHAPTER X. 

THE WEDDING RIDDLE AND TRAGEDY. 

" The thirty friends " of the bridegroom were spies— Samson's conformity 
to the customs of his wife's people— Christianity docs not teach vulgar- 
ity— Woman's presence at feasts restrains and refines— Thackeray on 
female society— PhUistines were not Turks— " Btmquet riddles," or 
"cup questions "—Aristophanes on— A lesson for our merry makings 
at weddings— Samson is aroused to propound his riddle— " The thirty 



CONTENTS. ix 



sheets"— "The nuptial joy"— making presents— TTis wife shedding 
crocodile tears— The teasing wife— The oriental proverb— Women un- 
justly accused of not being able to keep a secret— Only the vile tra- 
duce woman— The riddle solved— Josephus' paraphrase— Tloughing 
■with his heifer — Its meaning— A nugget from Bishop Hall— Samson not 
a repudiator — Makes Ask elon his wardrobe— Acts not as a mere private 
citizen, but as civil magistrate with the Divine commission in his hand — 
He was Jehovah's lieutenant general or high sheriff—Did not violate 
his Nazaritc vow in taking the spoil— Angry and proud as Achilles he 
pays the forfeit and strides off home— His bride is married to his first 
groomsman — Marriage a sacred and solemn institution — Divorces not 
to be granted for slight causes— The lesson against mixed marriages — 
A wedding as solemn as a funeral...., 185 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE JUDGMENT OF THE FIRE-BRAND FOXES. 

Samson relenting — His disappointment— The revenge — Cavils about the 
foxes removed— The fox of the Bible — Numerous in Palestine— Samson 
an expert hunter — May have had help and as much time as was need- 
ed—No miracle required here — Kennicott and Saurin at fault — Sylla, 
Caesar and Pompey's wild beasts— The original of Ovid's story of the 
Roman custom of the burning of the fox — Hebrew fire-brand the original 
of our lamps— C almet and Kitto on the appropriateness of the agents 
of the conflagration— Corn-fields vast open plains without intervening 
fences— Coyotes could do the same work of destruction here — Capt. 
Clapperton on the burning of towns by buzzards— Dr. Kitto ci'iticised — 
The law of war — An illustration from the Comanches— Samson's meth- 
od singular, but effective— No authority here for a private citizen tak- 
ing the law into his own hands— No moral guilt in killing two birds with 
one stone— The fearful law of retribution — Reynard versus the Phil- 
istines—The retribution on Samson's wife inhuman and barbarous- 
American institutions can only be destroyed by the fire-brand of dis- 
sension—The awful rule of Providence — Modern illustrations — Phalaris 
and Marat— True principle the only expediency — The way of trans- 
gressors always hard — No fugitive escapes Heaven's police — The only 
remedy is pai-don from the great Redeemer 205 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE JAW-BONE SLAUGHTER. 

" Hip and thigh " explained — Principle upon which Samson slew the Phil- 
istines — Rock Etam— French in Algeria — The Emir Faccardine — Sam- 
son's counhymen a sad spectacle before Etam — Why did not the men 
of Judah rally under Samson's banner? — Not excused because he was 
a Danite — Washington an American though a Virginian — size and 
strength of body not absolutely inconsistent with mental and moral 
energy — The perfect man is " a sound mind in a sound body" — Sam- 
son's character was not well balanced — He was not the man he should 
have been— The new cords as cinders — The pasan — Ramath Lehi — The 

A* 



CONTENTS. 



jaw-bone less cared for than Eob Boy's gun— The thirst— Josephus' ex- 
planation—The fountain not in the jaw-bone, but m the place called 
Lehi— The lesson from the Philistines shouting on the eve [of their de- 
struction is, that the prosperity of the wicked is not a blessing— Delays 
of Providence do not change the demerits of sin— The Supreme judge 
punishes from principle— not from passion— In the Divine government 
no statute of limitations debarring process or execution of sentence— 
The Divine rule of judgments is like that of grace— That only is right 
which is according to God's will— The long-suffering of God is salva- 
tion—Pardon is the sinner's only safety 221 

CHAPTER XIII. " 

THE DKEADFUL RELAPSE FROM ETAM. 

City of Gaza, ancient and modern — The Gazite woman — Rahab a zonah, 
that is, an inn-keeper — Schleusner on the term — Why did Samson go to 
Gaza? — His danger and escape — The Syrian door — "Who shall roll us 
away the stone " explained— The hill that is before Hebron — Review of 
Samson's life from the top of the rock Etam, and his strange descent 
thence to Gaza — A revival of his inner life in Etam — His mother's anx- 
ious interrogations— Why retire to Etam— Himself reflecting— The Spirit 
of God not easily discouraged — The seed may be long sprouting but 
not lost — Affliction 'generally necessary to recovery after a relapse- 
Samson's inner life not peculiar — official character not identical with 
saving expeiiences — Moses prepared by solitary meditation in a wilder- 
ness for his great mission — Samson did not backslide in a moment — His 
age an aggi'avation of his fall at Gaza — Besetting sins die hardly— The 
warfare and philosophy of success — Lusts of the flesh peculiarly dan- 
gerous — Samson went to Gaza and thence to Sorek in a sadly " con- 
sumptive state" — One sin leads to another — The aggravation of Sam- 
son's case— Our responsibility great 237 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SAMSON IN DELILAH'S LAP. 

The valley of Sorek — Samson now of mature age— His weakness for Philis- 
tine women — Delilah, her name significant— Her pictures— Fancied re- 
semblance to Queen Dido — Was Samson's wife — Philistine loi'ds — Na- 
ture of their government — The large bribe — Heathen superstitions — 
Samson's lies and vexation — The beguilement commenced— Delilah's 
vindication — Her pleas in Milton — Dangerous poets and essajists — The 
wife disparaged for the mistress— Solomon's bad company explains his 
- sad experience with womankind— Delilah's curiosity her best excuse — 
Withes, " tugs " and ropes — The loom experiment— The oriental upright 
loom from the monuments of Egypt— The secret told— The Philistine 
lords summoned — The fatal sleep — Picture of a man asleep upon the 
knees of a woman— Barbers— picture from the monuments of Egypt— 
In what sense his strength was in his long hair— His terrible mortifica- 
tion—How he was overcome— The history of his fall not incredible- 
Flight from such temptations the only safety 276 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHArTER. XV. 

A GRIST FROM THE PRISON MILL OF GAZA. 

Samson a prophet — A Scbastapolfall — The sad contrast between his depar- 
ture from Gaza and his return— His torturings by the Philistines — E3-C- 
punishment in Persia — Such barbarity common in ancient times — Pic- 
ture from Khorsabad — Fetters of brass — Ancient oriental implements 
chiefly copper — Excelled in hardening copper — Analogy between an- 
cient Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Philistines— Custom of keeping prison- 
ers to grace a triumph— An illustration from Southey's Brazil— Ameri- 
can aborigines — Samson grinding at the mill — Degradation of his 
employment — Ancient mills — Sympathy for the prisoner — Lessons of 
gTatitude and warning — I. We see God's singular forbearance — Success 
not impunity — Aggravations of Samson's fall — Our guilt in repudiating 
baptismal obligations — II. Samson lost his strength in an unconscious 
maimer — Quarles' dipt dove — III. Progressive downward tendency of 
sinning — Begun with improper use of his senses — Consumption of his 
inner life — Lost his strength before he was aware of it, and without in- 
tending it— Character is always a growth — The oak — The fire-side the 
world's greatest university— The most imperishable picture is the first 
drawn on the heart — Family culture our greatest hope — Our Homes 
the Republic's imperishable pillars — IV. Our reluctance to give up all 
hope of sharing in our father's religion at last — Samson was loath to 
give up the badge of his consecration — His heart was lost before his » 
hair — The gradual process of coming to the point to allow our locks to 
be shorn — Way of transgressors is of necessity hard— Purgatory in this 
world— The winding sheet of souls 278 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FINAL CONTEST AND TRAGEDY. 

More hope of Samson in prison than in Sorek— His hair begins to grow — 
Recovers his commission — The outward sign corresponding to the in- 
ward grace — Samson's experiences— Milton's description of the feast 
to Dagon— Oannes is Dagon— The symbolic history of Bab,ylonia— Bas- 
relief of Dagon from Khorsabad — Dagon on the doorways of Nimroud 
and on Assyrian cylinders and gems— Mr. Layard's agate— Berosus, 
Lucian, Diodorus Siculus — National deities — Philistine's house of wor- 
ship — The two pillars explained — Sir Christopher Wren's solution — 
Such edifices common — The fall did make a profound impression— Its 
shape resembled a horse-shoe— Ruins of Verona, Nismes, Athens, and 
the Colosseum in proof— So also Tacitus, Pliny, and Dr. Shaw — The 
summing up a complete vindication of the text — Bible histories neither 
impossible nor improbable — The errors of superstition — Consistent grati- 
tude of the Philistines — Their shouting was Samson's signal for pro- 
found humiliation — Heathen always judge of our religion by the con- 
duct of our travellers and merchants — Samson attends the feast and 
makes sport — THE PRINCIPALS appear in the contest— Samson's 
agony — His prayer— Resolves to die a martyr, if God is pleased to ac- 
cept him as such — Objections to his prayer answered— Principles and 



l~ 



Xll CONTENTS. 



habitudes and not emotions and dying articulations to be received as 
proofs of our acceptance with God — Samson's catechism was not like 
ours as to the lex talionis — He had not the example, teaching, and dying 
prayer of Jesus before him, as we have — His dying prayer and last acts 
were in perfect harmony with his commission from heaven 287 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE EPILOGUE AND ITS TEACHINGS. 

The late Dr. Samuel Miller— -The tree must not be too straight— A bow un- 
bent makes a straight jacket — Clemens Alexandrinus on the love of the 
wonderful— The Stagirite also— The stone-blind not so hopeless as the 
willful blind— Wonderful tales and Fairy stories to be allowed to chil- 
dren—All the books we want— Samson a necessaiy and profitable study, 
even if Ave should prefer another for a hero — Milton's Agonistes not 
equal to the occasion— Samson's view of the conflict— He dies not as a 
suicide but as a martyr— dies as he begun his career, fulfilling his com- 
mission and the promise made to his mother — Gaza still teaching— Its 
ruins a treasure-house— 1st. God's long-suffering and justice illustrated 
—2nd. God is still sovereign— As truly supreme in America as in Pal- 
estine — 3rd. The divine government is one of eternal, immutable princi- 
ples—These principles are as truly active in modern as in ancient times 
— In Washington's life as in that of Moses — In our streets as well as in 
the orbits of the heavenly bodies — Prayer is therefore as availing in 
San Francisco as in Solomon's temple — 4th. Ketribution follows ex- 
hausted mercy — 5th. Samson's life is truth both objective and sub- 
jective— 6th. Sin is a steep and slippery precipice — Every transgressor is 
under the infatuation of sin— Whoever indulges a sinful desire sleeps in 
Delilah's lap, to awake shorn of his strength — All sins are links together 
— Conscience an India rubber affair — Straining at a gnat and swallow- 
ing a whole caravan — The hissing millstone round the libertine's neck — 
7th. Samson's character badly balanced — A want of symmetry a great 
defect in Christian character— 8th. Constitutional sins peculiarly dan- 
gei-ous — 9th. The purity of the marriage relation must be preserved— 
Our Homes are God's foundation stones of national greatness — Thorough 
training and instruction essential in a Eepublic— Education a national 
as well as an individual blessing — The Ionian islands a striking illustra- 
tion — An eloquent paragraph from Macaulay — 10th. Samson is a pictorial 
of a mother's 'anxiety and influence— Washington formed b3 r his mother 
on Sir Matthew Hale's model— John Quiricp Adams' 1 tribute to his mother 
—Finally, Responsibility of young men for their influence on society.. . 307 



PREFACE. 



The same motives that prompted me, fellow-citizens, to offer you 
through the same publishers of this city "The Wedge oe Gold, or 
Achan in Ee Dorado," influence me in venturing to send forth the 
following pages. And I hope it will not be considered out of place 
for me here to say that I am profoundly thankful for the favor with 
which that little work has been received, not only on this coast, for 
which it was chiefly intended, but also iu the East, where it has 
already gone through a second large edition. The feelings with 
which " The Wedge of Gold " were submitted to you are more intense 
now, because of the increase of our population and the rapid flight of 
time. I frankly confess that I have an earnest desire to preach from 
the press to those who are scattered and toiling far from home, through 
our mountains and valleys, that I cannot reach with my voice; and 
to those who may hear it, I would preach again after it is silent in 
death. Life is uncertain, and at best will soon be spent. The mere 
utterances of the mouth are necessarily circumscribed in the hearing, 
and even when received, they are lodged in a treacherous memory. 
But what is printed remains, and has a chance to live. Firmly per- 
suaded that the purity and sacredness of marriage, and the social 
elevation and well-being of families, and the more thorough training 
and home education of children, especially in new States, lie at the 
foundation of all true national prosperity, I have labored earnestly in 
the following pages to explain the history of Israel's Giant Judge 
with fidelity to the text, and to make such reflections thereon, as I hum- 
bly hope may, with the divine blessing, promote domestic happiness, 



XIV . PREFACE. 

family piety, sound learning and true religion. My only hope of my 
country and of the world, is the Bible. An earnest faith in it and a sin- 
cere adoption of its principles are a present and an eternal salvation. 
Our artists have, I think, admirably succeeded in giving us illustra- 
tions eminently suited to the text. All the pictures I remember to 
have seen of Samson and Delilah, even those of Rubens, Guido and 
David, are historically incorrect. But our illustrations are strictly in 
conformity with the history and customs of the country, and of the 
times, as explained by the best interpreters, and by the latest researches 
of antiquarians and monument readers 

San Francisco, December, 1857. 



INTRODUCTION, 



In this little volume I have a definite end in view. I candidly ac- 
knowledge that with me, the reality of Bible histories is an indispen- 
sable condition to faith in the doctrines and precepts of Christianity. 
It is my purpose therefore, so far as the subject seems to come properly 
within the reach of these pages, to consider the history of Samson as a 
true history, explain its meaning, and apply its principles. Unless bibli- 
cal memoirs are strictly true — a record of things as they were, and of 
facts as they did occur — if the men named are nations or myths, and 
not individuals — if the miracles wrought by Moses and Samson are 
mere natural phenomena or figures of speech: then I have no confi- 
dence that the doctrines of the Bible are from God. 

I am well aware that some do not like the subject I have chosen — 
they would prefer Joseph or Daniel as a hero. Others are ready to 
pronounce the effort as useless — and some consider it as " an idle at- 
tempt to collect evidence " on a subject that does not admit ol proof; 
and others will charge me with maintaining most uncritical, ignorant, 
unphilosophical, baseless assumptions in regard to the histories of the 
Bible, and the literal interpretation of the scriptures. But as Keilin his 
preface to Joshua expresses it, I am persuaded : " The great want of the 
church, at the present day, is a clear comprehension of the meaning of 
the Old Testament, in its fullness and purity, in order that the God of 
Israel may again be universally recognized as the eternal God, whose 
faithfulness is unchangeable, the one living and true God, who per- 
formed all that he did to Israel for our instruction and salvation, having 
chosen Abraham and his seed to be his people, to preserve his revela- 
tions, that from him the whole world might receive salvation, and in 
him all the families of the earth be blessed." 

The great Augustine in his one hundred and sixtieth sermon is correct 
in saying most emphatically, "Novum Testamentum in vetere velabatur : 
Vctus Testamentum in novo revelatur." If the gospel of Jesus Christ 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

is therefore the only way of Salvation, the historical reality of the Old 
Testament must he fully established. It is true, that the good things of 
which in the old economy we have only the shadoios have come in all 
their precious realities: but it does not follow that the old economy 
is wholly obsolete. When a fond mother folds in her arms a living son 
returned from distant lands, or with honor from many a bloody field 
of battle, she does not indeed in the moment of transport turn from the 
living face to gaze on the cold picture. The artist may not choose to 
study his subject in twilight, when he may have it in the full blaze of 
day. And yet, that fond mother may by the help of the portrait dis- 
cover some line of beauty in her son's face, which she had not observed 
without it : and the artist may find that some sharp and simple outlines 
of the mountain or of the palace ruins are brought much more impres- 
sively before his eye against a twilight sky than in the glare of day. 
The great truths of Christianity stand up boldly in the history of God's 
ancient people, just as the lofty headlands of a dim and distant coast 
are seen from the sea; though more clearly stated in the New Testa- 
ment. But the distant view is not without grandeur and importance. 
And as the best and in fact the only way to remove darkness from a 
room, is to let in light, so it seems to us the best, if not the only way 
to save the Old Testament from rationalism and a Christless interpre- 
tation on the one hand, and the extravagancies of pietism on the other, 
is to promote its true understanding; and in order to this we must vin- 
dicate its authenticity and come to its true interpretation. But this 
cannot be done by ignoring altogether the schools of Neological criti- 
cism, nor by allegorizing and finding types of Christ in everything. I 
am perfectly sure that in regard to modern science, historical discove- 
ries and antiquarian researches, we may rest securely on the position 
of our distinguished countryman (Lieut. Maury): "I have always 
found," says he, "in my scientific studies, that when I could get the 
Bible to say anything upon the subject, it afforded me a firm founda- 
tion to stand upon, and another round in the ladder by which I could 
safely ascend." 

Within the last fifty years, and even within less than half that period, 
wonderful progress has been made in nearly all the branches of sacred 
literature. Profound grammatical and lexicographical researches have 
made us better acquainted with the Hebrew and cognate tongues. The 
customs and institutions of Oriental nations are now quite familiar to 
us. Ancient writers and monumental records are interpreted with 
much more accuracy than in ages past. By being able to read the 
hieroglyphic records of the private and public life of the ancient Egyp- 
tians, we know more of "the court of the Pharaohs than we do of the 
Plantagenets." And these records afford important, though undesigned 
confirmations of the historical verity of the Old Testament, and enable 
us to understand many hitherto obscure Biblical passages and allusions. 
So numerous and important are the proofs and illustrations of the 



INTRODUCTION. XV11 

authenticity of the historical books of the Bible, gathered from the 
labors of modern missionaries and travellers in the East, and from the 
readings of the inscriptions on the monuments of the Nile, Tigris and 
Euphrates, that our Bible dictionaries and commentaries will all have 
to be re-written. Many of them have been superseded already. Im- 
portant as they have been, I hope it will not be considered ungrateful 
in me to say, that the chief commentaries in our language of a former 
age, are destitute of the refreshing breath of science and without the 
lights of such patient and thorough research into antiquity as charac- 
terises our daj r . This was rather their misfortune than their fault 
While we shall ever thank God for their able and pious labors, it is but 
true to say, that they wrote sermons about rather than expositions of the 
sacred text. 

Most of the old commentators are too much given to spiritualizing 
rather than expounding the word of God. We cannot have too much 
of Christ in our pulpits; but the spirit of our age calls also for his- 
torical and critical studies in order to the successful presentation of 
" Christ and him crucified." And if, in preaching from the sacred 
records, we dismember them, and in our zeal to find evangelical 
doctrines, fail to apprehend the mind of the Spirit, then we do great 
injustice to revelation. We should avoid extremes, for doubtless there 
is a way to avail ourselves of the results of modern criticism, so as to 
combine the orthodox faith of former ages with the science and 
ripened fruits of modern times. The wonderful discoveries of our 
day furnish such a weight of evidence in favor of the historic realities * 
and accuracy of the divine records and of the literal fulfillment 
of prophecy, that they actually form a new and extensive class of 
Evidences for Christianity. These discoveries are, however, so recent, 
and so diversified and scattered, that they can hardly be said yet to be 
classified or arranged. Nor is this species of evidence by any means 
complete. But enough is known to convince candid and intelligent 
readers that the ancient historians and monumental records of the 
East do furnish us with remarkable illustrations of the sacred writers, 
and undesigned coincidences so striking, so numerous and so minute, 
that it is difficult to escape from the conviction that the Bible books 
are both genuine and authentic. Let it be kept, however, distinctly in 
mind, that in the following pages there is no attempt to go over the 
whole field just referred to. By no means. I have not travelled out 
of the sacred record concerning Samson. I have only attempted to 
sum up and arrange together so much of the results of biblical re- 
searches as seemed to me to belong to the life of the Israelitish judge. 
I am aware, moreover, that views and objections bearing upon the 
" Book of Judges " and the life of the Hebrew Hercules have been put 
forth by Rosenmuller, Eichhorn, Maurer, Taulus, Strauss and others, 
adverse to those defended in these pages, which I have not thought of 
sufficient importance or pertinency to be named at all, lest it should 



XV111 INTRODUCTION. 

seem to the sturdy, honest Bible readers of our own country that we 
were fighting men of straw. And besides, if we have succeeded in 
vindicating and making good our interpretations, theirs must fall to 
the ground. 

I do not suppose it is a valid objection against publishing a book 
that other volumes on the same subject have preceded it. For every 
man has his own anointing, and no one else can do the work to 
which providence has called him. Many valuable commentaries 
and volumes of Bible Illustrations have been published, and those 
named in the following pages are especially recommended, with the 
hope that if they are not already in every library and family, they 
soon will be. It is but justice to say, however, that I am not ac- 
quainted with a single work on the plan of this one, or that occupies 
the place it is designed to fill. In the preparation of these chapters, I 
have endeavored, if I may so express myself, to saturate my mind and 
heart with the spirit of the original text, and with the writings of the 
most approved critics and interpreters of it, and, as far as I was able, to 
exhaust them in whatever I deemed available for explaining and pre- 
senting in a brief way the true meaning of the narrative. I suppose it to 
be the duty of every conscientious interpreter of the word of God to 
study it, as the old divines express it, painfully, and to use freely the 
best helps within reach, for enabling them to show the people the way 
of salvation. The Hebrew has been carefully studied ;*but as Hebrew 
Bibles are now within the reach of all who desire to see the original, 
we have not printed it in our pages. We thought it best to present 
the edifice with as few signs of the scaffolding as were sufficient to give 
an idea of how it was built. 

The collection of facts and customs from Bible Lands used as illus- 
trations of the text have in most cases been verified by my own 
personal researches and observations in the East, and by the latest 
readings of oriental monuments, so far as they have any bearing on 
our narrative. I have sought to remove objections, and to bring 
home the truth. Our aim is the conversion of the heart to God by 
pouring light upon it. And if it shall please God to bless the under- 
taking, to him be all the praise, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 



®jre lira's Slorg Colfr. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE HERO'S STORY TOLD. 

" Jewish history is God's illuminated clock set in the dark steeple of time." 

" Most wondrous book ! bright candle of the Lord ! 
Star of Eternity ! The only star 
By which the bai-k of man could navigate 
The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 
Securely." 

Judges, Chapter xiii. — 1 And the children of 
Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord ; and the 
Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 
forty years. 

2 ^[ And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the 
family of the Danites, whose name teas Manoah ; and 
his wife was barren, and hare not. 

3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the 
woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, 
and barest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 

4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not 
wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing : 

5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son ; and no 
razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a 
Nazarite unto God from the womb : and he shall begin 
to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 

6 % Then the woman came and told her husband, 



22 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

saying, A man of God came unto me, and his counte- 
nance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very 
terrible : but I asked him not whence he was, neither 
told he me his name : 

7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, 
and bear a son ; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, 
neither eat any unclean thing : for the child shall be 
a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his 
death. 

8 % Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O 
my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send 
come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto 
the child that shall be born. 

9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and 
the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat 
in the field : but Manoah her husband was not with her. 

10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed 
her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath 
appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. 

11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and 
came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man 
that spakest unto the woman ? And he said, I am. 

12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. 
How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto 
him? 

13 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, 
Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 

14 She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the 
vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat 
any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her 
observe. 

15 ^[ And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, 



the angel's ascension. 23 

I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made 
ready a kid for thee. 

16 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, 
Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: 
and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it 
unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was an 
angel of the Lord. 

17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, 
What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass 
we may do thee honor? 

18 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why 
asketh thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? 

19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and 
offered it upon a rock unto the Lord : and the angel did 
wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 

20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward 
heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord 
ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and 
his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 

21 But the angel of the Lord did no more appear 
to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he 
was an angel of the Lord. 

22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely 
die, because we have seen God. 

23 But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were 
pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt 
offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would 
he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this 
time have told us such things as these. 

24 ^[ And the woman bare a son, and called his name 
Samson ; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. 

25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him 



24 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 
Judges, Chapter xiv.— 1 And Samson went down 
to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the 
daughters of the Philistines. 

2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, 
and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the 
daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for 
me to wife. 

3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is 
there never a woman among the daughters of thy breth- 
ren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a 
wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson 
said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth 
me well. 

4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was 
of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the 
Philistines : for at that time the Philistines had dominion 
over Israel. 

5 % Then went Samson down, and his father and his 
mother to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Tim- 
nath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 

6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon 
him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and 
he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father 
or his mother what he had done. 

7 And he went down and talked with the woman; 
and she pleased Samson well. 

8 ^[ And after a time he returned to take her, and he 
turned aside to see'the carcass of the lion : and, behold, 
there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of 
the lion. 

9 And he took thereof in his hands and went on eating, 



THE RIDDLE PROPOUNDED. 25 

and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, 
and they did eat : but he told not them that he had taken 
the honey out of the carcass of the lion. 

10 1" So his father went down unto the woman: and 
Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men 
to do. 

1 1 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they 
brought thirty companions to be with him. 

12 ^[ And Samson said unto them, I will now put 
forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it 
me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, 
then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change ol 
garments : 

13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give 
me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And 
they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may 
hear it. 

14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came 
forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. 
And they could not in three days expound the riddle. 

15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they 
said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband that he 
may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and 
thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take 
that we have? is it not so? 

16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, 
Thou* dost but hate me, and lovest me not; thou hast 
put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and 
hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I 
have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I 
tell it thee? 

17 And she wept before him the seven days, while 



26 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh 
day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: 
and she told the riddle to the children of her people. 

18 And the men of the city said unto him on the 
seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter 
than honey? and whatz's stronger than a lion? And he 
said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, 
ye had not found out my riddle. 

19 % And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, 
and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of 
them and took their spoil, and gave change of garments 
unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger 
was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. 

20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, 
whom he had used as his friend. 

Judges, Chap. xv. — 1 But it came to pass within 
a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson 
visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to 
my wife into the chamber. But her father would not 
suffer him to go in. 

2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst 
utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: 
is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I 
pray thee, instead of her. 

3 *§ And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I 
be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them 
a displeasure. 

4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, 
and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a 
firebrand in the midst between two tails. 

5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them 
go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt 



SAMSON ON THE ROCK ETAM. 27 

up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the 
vineyards and olives. 

6 % Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? 
And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Tim- 
nite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to 
his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt 
her and her father with fire. 

7 % And Samson said unto them, Though ye have 
done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I 
will cease. 

8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great 
slaughter : and he went down and dwelt in the top of the 
rock Etam. • 

9 If Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in 
Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. 

10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up 
against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are 
we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. 

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the 
top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou 
not that the Philistines are rulers over us ? what is this 
that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, 
As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 

12 And they said unto him, We are come down to 
bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the 
Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto 
me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. 

13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we 
will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand : but 
surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with 
two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. 

14 1" And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines 



28 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came 
mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his 
arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his 
bands loosed from off his hands. 

15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put 
forth his hand and took it, and slew a thousand men 
therewith. 

16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, 
heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a 
thousand men. 

17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end 
of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his 
hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi. 

18 If And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord 
and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the 
hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, 
and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised ? 

19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the 
jaw, and there came water thereout ; and when he had 
drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived : wherefore 
he called the name thereof En-hak-kore, which is in 
Lehi unto this day. 

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philis- 
tines twenty years. 

Judges, Chapter xvi. — 1 Then went Samson to 
Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. 

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is 
come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait 
for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet 
all the night, saying, in the morning, when it is day, we 
shall kill him. 

3 And Samsom lay till midnight, and arose at mid- 




THE ASCENSION OP THE ANGEL, OR MANOAH'S SACRIFICE, 

" When the flame went tip toward heaven from off the altar, the angel of the 
Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.' Page 23. 



i 



THE JUDGE IN DELILAH'S TOILS. 29 

night, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the 
two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and 
put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the 
top of an hill that is before Hebron. 

4 % And it came to pass afterwards, that he loved a 
woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, 
and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great 
strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail 
against him, that we may bind him to afflict him : and 
we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces 
of silver. 

6 % And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray 
thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith 
thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. 

7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with 
seven green withes that were never dried, then shall I be 
weak, and be as another man. 

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her 
seven green withes which had not been dried, and she 
bound him with them. 

9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with 
her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philis- 
tines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withes, 
as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. 
So his strength was not known. 

10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast 
mocked me, and told me lies : now tell me, I pray thee, 
wherewith thou mightest be bound. 

11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with 
new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be 
weak, and be as another man. 



30 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him 
therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon 
thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in 
the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms 
like a thread. 

13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast 
mocked me, and told me lies : tell me wherewith thou 
mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou 
weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. 

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto 
him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he 
awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of 
the beam, and with the web. 

15 % And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I 
love thee, when thine heart is not with me ? thou hast 
mocked me these three times, and hast not told me 
wherein thy great strength lieth. 

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily 
with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was 
vexed unto death ; 

17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, 
There hath not come a razor upon mine head ; for I 
have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb : 
if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I 
shall become weak, and be like any other man. 

18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all 
his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philis- 
tines, saying, come up this once, for he hath shewed me 
all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up 
unto her, and brought money in their hand. 

19 And she made him sleep upon her knees ; and 
she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off 



THE HERO JUDGE TAKEN. 31 

the seven locks of his head ; and she began to afflict 
him, and his strength went from him. 

20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Sam- 
son. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go 
out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he 
wist not that the Lord was departed from him. 

21 If But the Philistines took him and put out his 
eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him 
with fetters of brass ; and he did grind in the prison 
house. 

22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again 
after he was shaven. 

23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them 
together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their 
god, and to rejoice ; for they said, Our god hath deliv- 
ered Samson our enemy into our hand. 

24 And when the people saw him, they praised their 
god : for they said, Our god hath delivered into our 
hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, 
which slew many of us. 

25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were 
merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may 
make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the 
prison house ; and he made them sport : and they set 
him between the pillars. 

26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by 
the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars where- 
upon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. 

27 Now the house was full of men and women ; and 
all the lords of the Philistines were there ; and there 
were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, 
that beheld while Samson made sport. 



32 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

28 And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O 
Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen 
me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be 
at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 

29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars 
upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne 
up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with 
his left. 

30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. 
And he bowed himself with all his might ; and the house 
fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were 
therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were 
more than they which he slew in his life. 

31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father 
came down, and took him and brought him up, and buried 
him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of 
Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years. 



" Living or dying thou hast fulfill'd 
The work for which thou wast foretold 
To Israel, and now ty'st victorious 

in death conjoined 

With thy slaughter'd foes, in number more 
Than all thy life hath slain before." 



%\t |f evou l«bges anb %ir Cimts. 



^ 



CHAPTER II. 



THE HEROIC JUDGES AND THEIR TIMES. 

" Know ye the land -where the cypress and myrtle, 

Are emblems of deeds that were done in their clime, 
"Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, 
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime ?" 

Bride of Abydos. 

And what shall I more say ? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and 
of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and 
of the prophets : Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous- 
ness. * * * * And these all, having obtained a good report through 
faith, received not the promise : God having provided some better thing for us, 
that they without us should not be made perfect. — Hebrews xi, 32-40. 

As the Life and Exploits of Israel's Giant Judge 
are described in " the Book of Judges," and as he was 
himself one of the most remarkable of this extraordinary- 
class of men, it may be well to say something of these 
heroic Judges and of their Times. Their history is an 
important link in Israel's ancient story. For though 
some of the facts here recorded seem not to have a direct 
religious interest, still as fragments of family and national 
history, they are exceedingly valuable. It was import- 
ant, at least until the Messiah should come, to preserve 
the distinctive tribal lines and history of the Hebrews. 
And even in our times, apparently unimportant facts 
recorded in the earlier books of the Bible have been of 



36 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

great value in ethnology and philology, and for the gen- 
eral history of mankind. 

In the history of " The Judges," we have a striking 
picture of the disorder and dangers of a country without 
a well established government. In those days when the 
people had no " vision," that is, when they were without 
prophets to instruct them ; and when there was no gov- 
ernment, but " every one did that which was right in 
his own eyes :" — then, " the highways were unoccupied, 
and the travellers walked through by-ways." There 
is no liberty, where there is no law. There is no pro- 
tection for property " throughout the purple land, where 
law secures not life." 

Hebrew for Judges is from the verb to judge, discern, 
command, rule, execute punishment. In the East judg- 
ing and ruling were generally connected. And sitting 
in judgment is still one of the principal duties of an 
oriental sovereign. The term Judges when used in 
the Bible in reference to those heroes that God raised 
up between the days of Joshua and David to be the 
saviors of their country is equivalent to Rulers. And 
this is the common use of the term, Judges, in the days 
of Samson, and up to the gift of a King. It appears 
from the life of Samuel, however, and also from Judges 
iv : 5, that these Judges (Shophetim) did sometimes act 
as Judges merely, and not as judges and executioners 
of their own sentences. The main idea then of these 
Judges, is not the literal one of a judge seated on a 
judicial bench, and pronouncing the sentence of the law 
in criminal cases. They were chief magistrates. The 
Judge for the time being was the head of the nation. 
Jehovah was the King; the government was a The- 



THE JUDGES AND THE SHEIKHS. 37 

ocracy, and the Judges were his Lieutenant Generals, 
or his Deputies. According to Gesenius the name 
Svffetes among the Carthagenians is of the same origin. 
The chiefs of the Tyrians, the Archons of Athens, and the 
Dictators of the Romans, were essentially the same in 
office as the Hebrew Judges. The Arab Sheikhs cor- 
respond very nearly to them, except that they have not 
the supernatural commission of the Israelite magistrates. 
The term Sheikh means an old man, hence a chief, a 
lord, a man of eminence. The Hebrew Zahayn signi- 
fies an old man, and also elders of Israel, chief men, 
magistrates, without reference to their age. The modern 
words Signore, Senor, Seigneur, derived from the Latin 
senior, are used in the same way.* The Elders of 
Israel were also their Sheikhs. The history and use of 
the modern Arabic name Rats, Ras, for the master of a 
ship, illustrates the use of the appellation of elders and 
rulers. It is evidently from the Hebrew Rosh, head or 
chief, just as our Captain is from Caput, the head. And 
in the same way, we find the Greek Presbuteros, Pres- 
byter, meaning an aged person and then one that held 
an office in the Synagogue and now holds one in the 
Christian church. 

The Judges of Israel were, however, neither heredi- 
tary, nor were they chosen by the people. They were 
in every case raised up on some extraordinary occasion 
to execute some divine judgment upon Israel's wicked 
oppressors, or to fulfill some specific mission. They kept 
no court, had no standing army, and received no pay. 
They had neither the pomp, nor the ceremony usually 



*See Gesenius on H>b. Zakayn. 



38 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

attached to the head of a State. Nor had they the power 
to make any new laws, nor to change the old ones. 
Their mission was altogether a peculiar, a distinct- 
ive one. In the history of civil rulers they stand out 
in solitary prominence as Melchisedec does in the his- 
tory of the priesthood. Their only authority was to 
execute the laws, and effect such deliverance of the 
chosen people from their heathen oppressors as God 
himself should direct. Officially, they were without 
father or mother and without offspring. They had no 
predecessors, and they left no successors. 

The government of the Judges continued about four 
hundred and fifty years. And if Samuel be considered 
as a prophet as well as a judge, and Eli a priest as well 
as a judge, we may consider Samson not only as the 
giant judge of Israel, but as the last of that peculiar 
order of governors. Samuel, it is true, judged Israel, 
but he did not begin to act as a judge till forty years of 
age, and during the greater part of that time, Saul was 
king. It is, therefore, with much propriety, that the 
" first book of Samuel is otherwise called the first book 
of Kings." The history of Samson occupies four out of 
the twenty chapters of the book of Judges, and is more 
fully written out than that of any of the others. His 
history is surprising even in an extraordinary age. In 
several particulars he was the most distinguished of the 
Hebrew Judges. And though never at the head of an 
army, nor on a throne, nor prime minister to any earthly 
potentate, it were difficult, perhaps impossible, to name 
another Hebrew that loved his country with more fervid 
devotion, or served it with a more hearty good will, or 
who was a greater terror to its enemies. His deeds and 



A GRAND EPIC. 39 

his errors were Samsonian. I know not that there is 
any biography so completely characteristic, or more 
tragical than his. It is full of stirring incidents and 
most marvellous achievements. His whole life consists 
of a good beginning preannounced, and a relapse from 
early piety into a long, dark and terrible conflict, in 
which we find a mother's piety and a father's faith in 
battle array with constitutional and besetting sins ; but 
at last they prevail, and the sun that shone on him in his 
youth shines on him in his old age and gilds his dying 
exploits with terrible glory. He seems to us like a vol- 
cano, continually struggling for an eruption. In him we 
have all the elements of an epic ; love, adventure, hero- 
ism, tragedy. Nor am I aware that any Bible character 
has lent to modern literature a greater amount of meta- 
phor and comparison than the story of Samson. The 
" Samson Agonistes " of Milton has been pronounced by 
the highest authority to be " one of the noblest dramas 
in the English language." It reminds us of the mystic 
touches and shadowy grandeur of Rembrandt, while 
Rembrandt himself and Rubens, Guido, David and 
Martin are indebted to the Hercules of the Judges for 
several of their immortal pieces. 

I am aware that some look upon Samson merely as a 
strong man, just as they do upon Solomon as a wise man ; 
but find nothing supernatural in either. They forget 
that it was the special inspiration of the Almighty that 
taught Solomon wisdom above all other men. They do 
not consider that the moving of the Spirit of Jehovah 
gave extraordinary strength to Samson for special pur- 
poses. It does not appear that his stature or limbs were 
of gigantic proportions. His strength, on the contrary, 



40 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

was " hung in his hair," the weakest part of his physical 
frame, to show that it was the special gift of God. It 
is, therefore, wholly in regard to his strength, I have 
called him the Giant Judge of Israel. His peculiari- 
ties are not remarkable, because of any thing that we 
perceive foreign to fallen humanity in the kind or com- 
position of his passions and besetting sins, but in the 
fierceness and greatness of their strength. Saul, the son 
of Kish, was of the people and among them — he was of 
their flesh and bones ; — but he was a head and shoulders 
above them. It is just so with Samson. Ordinary men 
now have the same besetting sins — passions of the same 
character, but they are diminutive in comparison with 
him, and are without his supernatural strength. 

It must be confessed in the outset, that Samson's 
spiritual history is very skeleton like. We have only a 
few time worn fragments out of which to construct his 
inner man. Now and then, and sometimes after long 
and dreary intervals, and from out of heavy clouds and 
thick darkness, we catch a few rays of hope, and rejoice 
in some signs of a reviving conscience and of the presence 
of God's Spirit. Possibly no part of the Bible has given 
occasion for more raillery than the book of Judges. 
And perhaps no name in that book has given point to 
more infidel jests than that of Samson. " His character 
is indeed dark and almost inexplicable. By none of the 
Judges of Israel did God work so many miracles, and 
yet by none were so many faults committed." As no 
Bible hero is so remarkable for strength, so none are so 
remarkable for weakness as Samson. His faults and 
passions were like himelf. The Apostle, however, in 
Hebrews xi, settles the question as to his personal piety 



dr. bruce's analysis. 41 

and salvation at last, by enrolling him in the list of 
heroes distinguished for faith and glorious deeds. But 
as an old writer has said, he must be looked upon as 
" rather a rough believer." A recent Scotch author 
(Rev. Dr. Bruce in his biography of Samson, a work very 
highly spoken of in his country) divides his life into 
three periods. The first, his youth, when all was pros- 
perous and he was truly pious. This period extends to 
his marriage, when his second period begins, which is 
marked by his fall, and is very dark. In which period, 
like David, he made sad shipwreck of the faith — " and 
strangely enough from the very same blinding and 
beguiling, and peculiarly brutalizing lust ; and yet 
like David also and some others, he escaped at the last 
as by a hair's breadth — the Lord forgiving his iniquity, 
whilst yet He took vengeance on his inventions." The 
third period, he denominates the period of his penitence, 
recovery and triumphant death. This period, the revival 
of his graces and gifts as a christian, begins with the 
growing of his hair in the prison. This author dwells 
chiefly upon Samson's history as an illustration of chris- 
tian experience. He endeavours to illustrate the con- 
tinual struggle between good and evil in the human soul, 
sometimes the one predominating, and then again the 
other, the evil drawing down its own punishment, and 
the good at last prevailing. He makes Samson a strik- 
ing instance of " the delivery of the body to satan for 
the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved 
in the day of the Lord Jesus." Now it is undoubtedly 
true, that the stragglings of " this mighty and marvel- 
lous Israelite," with his wild passions and his better 
resolutions — his conflicts with most hurtful lusts and 



42 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

convictions of duty, do well illustrate the Apostle's war- 
fare between the flesh and the spirit ; but, it may be 
fairly questioned whether this is the main design of his 
history, as it is given to us. According to Dr. Bruce, 
Samson was not so much a type of Christ as of the 
conscience of a believer quickened by his spirit, and 
contending for the mastery over those carnal passions 
which are well represented by the tyrant and treacher- 
ous Philistines. I like not to dwell on Samson as a 
type of Christ. We must at least guard against remov- 
ing him so far from us by reason of his uniqueness of 
character, as to forget that he was a man^f like passions 
with ourselves. We must carefully discriminate in his 
life between what God moved him to do, and what his 
sinful passions moved him to. I fear a disposition to 
neglect the Old Testament characterizes our times. 
True indeed, most people in Christendom suppose them- 
selves well acquainted with the character of Samson. 
They at least know he is called the strongest man, and 
that he killed a lion, slept in Delilah's lap, and killed a 
great many Philistines at his death. This they may 
know, and yet not be able to form a true estimate of his 
character, or draw from his history those important 
lessons, which it teaches. Doubtless many have read 
Samson's history just as they do that of " the Scottish 
Chiefs," or of King Philip. They have found in Sam- 
son the wonderful deeds of a giant Ishmaelite, ever 
ready for a border fray, fiery and fierce, and of extra- 
ordinary strength, and nothing more. This were to lose 
very much of what the Holy Spirit certainly designed 
us to learn from this memoir. The Lord raised up this 
heroic Israelite for us. He threw into him a miraculous 



SAMSON THE ORIGINAL HERCULES. 43 

composition of strength and energy of passion and called 
them forth in such a way as to make him our teacher. 
And besides being a hero, he was a believer — a chris- 
tian, a member of the Body of Christ, his church, which 
is his kingdom. God raised him up for our learning, 
and made him, as it were, " a mirror or molten looking 
glass," in which we may see some of our own leading 
features, truthfully portrayed, only on an enlarged scale. 
And if we differ from him, or from other great sinners, 
who but God hath made us to differ ? In all, if in any 
thing we are not as bad as others, it is not owing to 
ourselves, but to the sovereign grace of God. 

First. Our studies of the biography of Israel's Giant 
Judge, lead us to the conclusion that he is the original 
of the heathen Hercules. Many authors have written 
on heathen mythology, and dwelt on the exploits of 
a demi-god, known by the name of Hercules. Every 
ancient nation seems to have thought it necessary to 
give themselves a remote origin, and to people the dim 
shadows of a fabulous antiquity with heroes and demi- 
gods as their progenitors. Every ancient nation had its 
own Hercules. Some authors speak of forty and some 
of sixty heroes or demi-gods of this name. In some 
writers of distinction, both ancient and modern, we find 
a labored comparison of the Greek Hercules, with the 
Hebrew Samson, and not always to the advantage of the 
latter. In some particulars, as in " the choice of Her- 
cules," as it is called, in which, he is represented to have 
preferred virtue to pleasure, the heathen demi-god is 
morally superior to the Hebrew. The difficulty of 
making such a comparison, lies chiefly in this, that in 
the one we have historic verities only as materials out of 



44 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

which to construct our hero, while in the other, we have 
all the fruits of a warm, eclectic fancy, fabling out of all 
possibilities " the higher potentialities " of a demi-godship. 
The Tyrian or Phenician Hercules is, however, gener- 
ally admitted to be the oldest, and for the construction 
of this demi-god in Asia Minor, there is but little doubt 
the heathen used their traditions of the Hebrew Moses, 
Joshua and Samson. In those early days there was 
much more intercourse, — traveling and trading among 
the tribes of Asia and Africa, than is generally supposed. 
Saint Augustine expressly affirms, that the heathen 
nations forged their respective Hercules after the history 
of Samson became known, first in Egypt, then in Phe- 
nicia, and lastly in Greece. There is no proof of any 
fabulous Hercules before the time of Samson. The 
points of parallel between the Hebrew Judge and the 
heathen Hercules may be summed up after the follow- 
ing order : 

1. The name Samson signifies the sun. And accord- 
ing to Macrobius this is the meaning of the name 
Hercules. This is denied by some. 

2. The birth and actions of both, or of all, are super- 
natural. 

3. Samson begins his career by rending a Hon as if 
he were a kid, and Hercules slew the terrible lion of the 
Nemean forest, and strangled enormous serpents, and 
performed many other most wonderful exploits. 

4. The heathen Hercules is also compared to Joshua 
in casting down stones from heaven, and in some other 
points. 

5. The jaw-bone of Samson becomes a club in the 
hands of Hercules. 



HERCULES AND SAMSON'S DEATH. 45 

6. The fable imitates fully the original as to the foun- 
tain of water in Lehi. When Hercules had slain the 
dragon that guarded the apples in the garden of the 
Hesperides he well nigh perished of thirst in the deserts 
of Libya, and to save him, we are told, the gods made 
a spring of water gush forth from a rock, which he 
struck with his foot. 

7. The prevailing weakness of Hercules was precisely 
the besetting sin of our Israelitish judge. Both in the 
original and in the fable, an inordinate love for women 
leads both heroes into unexampled troubles and exploits, 
and finally to ruin. It will hardly be doubted but that 
Samson and Delilah are the original of the story of 
Nisus, king of Megara and his daughter Scylla, who cut 
off the fatal purple lock upon which victory depended, 
and gave it to Minos his enemy, then at war with him, 
who by that means destroyed both him and his kingdom.* 

8. And both died in a similar and extraordinary 
manner. The story of Hercules' death, as given by 
Herodotus, is to the following effect, namely : having 
fallen into the hands of the Egyptians, he was con- 
demned to die by being sacrificed to Jupiter. Accord- 
ingly he was adorned as a victim, and led with much 
pomp to the foot of the altar, where, after permitting 
himself to be conducted thus far, and stopping a moment 
to gather his strength, he fell upon and massacred all 
those who were assembled to be, either actors in, or 
spectators of this pompous sacrifice, to the number of 
many thousands. 

In the history of the Hercules of Herodotus there is 

*Ovid, Met., lib. viii, fab. 1. 



46 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

considerable confusion, if not some positive contradic- 
tions ; yet it seems to me, no one upon a candid and full 
comparison of the heathen Hercules with the Hebrew 
Samson, and remembering at the same time, the ac- 
knowledged source of the Greek stories, will fail to 
admit that the Hebrew is the original. This analogy is 
abridged from the books, and is a remarkable instance 
of how much the heathen have borrowed from the Bible, 
and of how they have corrupted and disfigured the orig- 
inal. The Greek history of Hercules exactly resembles 
all their other histories of their gods and heroes, which 
are a vast mass of fables, often incoherent, but accumu- 
lated on a skeleton or frame-work of truth. It is easy 
to see that they have united the Hebrew traditions of 
Joshua and Samson into one story, and added such 
inventions as suited their national vanity and mytho- 
logical ideas. Perhaps as good an embodiment of as 
much of heathen traditions on this point as is generally 
necessary, is more accessible in Dr. Clark's Commentary 
of Judges xvi, than any where else. Dr. Clark is not a 
safe expositor, but his learning and memory were pro- 
digious, and many of his pious, practical remarks, are 
excellent. Those who may wish to examine this curious 
subject for themselves should consult at least in addition 
to the ordinary works on Mythology, Faber on origin of 
Idolatry ; Prideaux's Connections ; Augustine's City of 
God ; Jaquelot on the existence of God ; Ovid's Meta- 
morphoses, book eighth, and book fourth Fasti ; Josephus' 
Antiquities ; Herodotus' Euterpe ; Varro and Cicero on 
the nature of the Gods ; Selden de Diis *Syris, and 
Lavaur's Conference de la Fable avec l'Historie Sainte. 
Second. Let it be remembered in studying such a 



SAMSON A SINNER SAVED. 47 

biography as this of the Giant Judge of Israel, that we 
should expect, and could not indeed have any other than 
one that records infirmities and short comings, as well as 
virtues and heroic deeds. Samson was a man — a sinful 
man. His life and exploits are recorded in an honest, 
truth-telling memoir. This point comes up again in the 
next chapter in considering the design and method upon 
which the earlier Biblical memoirs were written. 

Third. It is not to be inferred then by any means, 
that in making mention of Samson, the Apostle approved 
of all that he did. Nor indeed of any of the other cham- 
pions of faith whom he names. All that he commends 
is his faith. All that he here speaks of is the faith of 
the ancients. It was not his purpose to give a full 
account of these worthies. He was not writing their 
history. He was not called upon in this connection to 
speak of their imperfections ; but to show that however 
great their faults may have been, they were remark- 
able for their confidence in God. By reciting this 
muster roll of the old champions of faith, the Apostle 
sought to awaken the courage of the Hebrew believers 
of his day by bidding them remember what faith had 
achieved for men and women like them in ages past. 

Fourth. All these, the apostle says, obtained a good 
report through faith. That is, on account of their confi- 
dence in God. They were accepted of Him, and are 
commended by all the pious. The procuring cause of 
pardon and acceptance from the beginning, was the blood 
of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. 
This they received by faith — not the reality, but the 
promise. They believed the promise as if it were ful- 
filled. They did not actually see its fulfillment, but 



48 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

they did look forward in perfect confidence to its fulfill- 
ment, and consequently received the blessings promised 
as if the great promise had actually been fulfilled. 



Lives of great men all remind us 

"We can make our lives sublime, 
And depai'ting, leave behind us 

Footprints on the sand of time. 

Footprints that perhaps another, 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 

Seeing, shall take heart again. 

Let us, then, be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labor and to wait. 

Longfellow's Psalm of Life. 



%\t Slorj) a Relation Jrspftfc 



c 



CHAPTER III. 



THE STORY A REVELATION INSPIRED. 

44 This book, — this glorious book, on every line 
Marked with the seal of high Divinity ; 
On every leaf bedewed with drops of love 
Divine." 

Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. — 2 Pet. i : 
All sciipture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doc tin , 
for reproof, for correction, tor instruction in righteousness; that the man of 
God — a christian man — may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works.— 2 Tim iii : 16, 17. 

It is not the purpose of this chapter to consider the 
evidences of Christianity in general, nor to offer proofs 
of the inspiration of God in the Bible. Our undertak- 
ing is a more limited one. In the previous chapters, 
we have a wonderful story of heroic times. And though 
it is remarkable even in a collection of marvellous rec- 
ords, still it belongs to a series of biographies that we 
are accustomed to look upon with great reverence. In 
so far then as we may be able to explain in what sense 
the recorded story of the life and exploits of Israel's 
Giant Judge is a revelation from God, made in a 
supernatural way, and transferred to human language 
by an extraordinary or miraculous degree of inspiration, 



52 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

we shall not only justify the reverence with which we 
are wont to treat this sacred story, but establish the 
claims of all the Bible biographies to a like respect. 
The story then, in hand, of the Hebrew Judge Hercules, 
is it an inspired record ', and on what plan, and for what 
purpose were such Biblical memoirs written ? It is 
proper to consider these questions, since there are those 
who still assert that the Old Testament is either totally 
unconnected with the New, except by a mere chance, or 
that it has ceased to be of any importance. This asser- 
tion argues either ignorance, or a false conception of 
spiritual Christianity, or an inordinate zeal to support 
certain dogmatic views of religion. Still it is thrust 
upon us so often and with so much urgency, that it is 
well for us to consider the place of Bible biogra- 
phies, ESPECIALLY OF THE EARLIER TIMES, IN THE 
HISTORY OF MANKIND. 

Why should we then as christians study the Old Tes- 
tament ? 

I. In answering this question, it were perhaps enough 
to say, that the doctrines and precepts, principles and 
duties which are taught in and illustrated by the lives of 
Bible characters, are found to be the best manual in 
existence for developing and strengthening, refining, 
elevating and giving expansion to our mental faculties. 
There is nothing equal to the theology of the Bible to 
strengthen and purify the human mind. The divinity 
of the Scottish Knox has given breadth and power to the 
Scottish mind. He gave Scotland her schools and an 
open Bible, and Scotland has well improved his gifts. 
It is " from scenes like these," so touchingly described in 
the Cotter's Saturday Night, — " Old Scotia's grandeur 



THE PABULUM OF SCOTLAND. 53 

springs, that makes her loved at home, revered abroad." 
And the Cotter's Saturday Night reminds us that the 
late Mr. Hugh Miller, in one of his essays, which are 
his ablest productions, quotes with approbation, the 
remark of Gilbert Burns, brother of the poet, that " it 
was not from the parish school that the people of Scot- 
land derived their higher education, but from the parish 
pulpits. It was to their ministers, not to their school- 
masters, that the Scotch owed both their sober and their 
severe thinking." " Never," continues Mr. Miller, " was 
the strong common sense of Gilbert Burns, which was 
as much a gift of nature as the genius of his brother, more 
unequivocally manifested than in his remark on the real 
source whence the Scotch people had derived of old the 
tone of high moral sentiment by which they were char- 
acterized, and their severe semi-metaphysical cast of 
thinking. An earnest Calvinistic ministry had been 
their real teachers. We well remember a class of intel- 
ligent and thoughtful men, now nearly all passed away, 
who had received their only teaching from the church 
and from the Bible ; nor can we avoid regretting, when 
we think how much they formed the salt of the Scottish 
people, that the class should be so well nigh an extinct 
one. The pabulum on which they fed and grew strong 
still survives, however ; and when we hear from the pul- 
pit, powerful and original thinking that awakens thought 
in others, while at the same time it ensures the diffusion 
of an element of earnestness, we recognise in it the old 
teaching, which made the people of Scotland what they 
were when at their best." Yes, " the pabulum " still sur- 
vives and if we mistake not, the class so much admired by 
the geologist is by no means " an extinct one." There are 



54 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

those, and not a few, in his country and in our own, who 
still adhere to " the old way of teaching " — who read 
and expound the word of God, and cause the people to 
understand its meaning. 

It is no doubt true that the influence the pulpit once 
had almost entirely to itself, is now shared with the Sab- 
hath school, the colporteur and the printing press ; still 
the " power of the pulpit " in preventing crime, and in 
promoting virtue and religion, is very great. Like the 
life-giving principle of the air, it is everywhere, and yet 
scarcely recognized. Doubtless there is much ineffici- 
ency in the pulpit, but is there none in the pews ? But 
few ministers of the gospel are as able and successful as 
they diould be, but are the hearers of the word efficient 
doers ? The main business of the pulpit is to bring the 
Divine Word home to the conscience — into living con- 
tact with the mind and heart of the hearers. And if we 
are not greatly mistaken, the best way to do this, is " the 
old way of teaching," that is, of teaching the people as 
the prophets and apostles and our blessed Lord himself 
taught them. Doctrines, precepts, promises, threaten- 
ings, commands and duties are taught in the scriptures 
by biographies, or memoirs and parables. The chequered 
life of man is made to teach and illustrate what we are 
to believe and what we are to do, that we may inherit 
eternal life. The biographies of the Bible are living 
lessons. They are not perfect as pictures, but true to 
the life, giving the blemishes as well as the beauties. 
The Judges of Israel, and all the heroes that lived before 
and since Agamemnon are nothing to us, unless we 
recognise them to be men of like passions with ourselves 
— " our loftier brothers, but one in blood." To read or 



OUR LOFTIER BROTHERS. 55 

preach of the thousands who have lived before us, " in 
the grey dawn of time," as if we were reciting some 
unmeaning hearsay story, is to fail altogether of a proper 
appreciation of the mind of the Spirit in causing the 
biographies of the Bible to be written. The Hebrew 
historians by one single touch, one little incident, chroni- 
cle the state of a man's mind or a period of his life, and 
expose at one view the naked anatomy of the human 
heart. There are no such biographical memoirs any- 
where else as we have in the Bible. As studies of the 
natural history of man's inner life, they challenge our 
highest attention. It is for us to draw warning and 
encouragement from the lives of holy men of old, who 
did battle for the right, both against themselves and the 
world, and who sometimes fell, and then, after many a 
struggle, rose again to the conflict, and after a life-long 
quarrel with sin and the enemies of God, gloriously 
triumphed. If we read their lives aright, as we work 
at the " flaming forge of life," we shall 

" Know how sublime a thing it is 
To suffer and be strong." 

A studied depreciation of the scriptures of the Old 
Testament has ever marked the course of rationalism 
in the old world, and is one of the most unfavorable 
symptoms of the theological movements of our own 
country, especially of New England, under the lead of 
such men as Parker and Emerson. It is not enough to 
take out of them all true evangelism. The inspiration of 
the prophets is made nothing more than the inspiration 
of genius, such as is common to an artist, a poet or an 
orator. On the contrary, we hold that the scriptures are 



56 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

of God in the highest sense of inspiration, and that they 
testify of Christ and of eternal life through Him. Some 
heretics in ancient times held that the Old Testament 
was the work of a secondary evil principle or deity, that 
was in perpetual warfare with the eternal fountain of 
good.* According to this view the Jewish system was 
to be regarded as essentially defective and positively 
evil — carnal and debasing. Consequently Christ came 
not to fulfill, but to destroy — and that in fact, the New 
Testament is something wholly new, different from and 
in contradiction to the Old Testament. On the other 
hand, some of the first converts from Judaism to Christi- 
anity, insisted on the continued obligations of the law of 
Moses, not only on converted Jews, but also on con- 
verted Gentiles. They insisted on circumcision as well 
as baptism — on obedience to Moses as well as to Christ 
in order to salvation. This error the great apostle who 
wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, has most happily cor- 
rected, and so corrected as to show us the use of and 
the difference between the two dispensations. 



* Marcion and his followers rejected the Old Testament altogether. Schleier- 
macher and his school deny its inspiration. Some of them even go so far as to 
say that " an owl is as much inspired as Isaiah was." They all contend that 
there is no higher inspiration than "christian consciousness." It is obvious 
whither all this tends. The result is the same, whether we rely on man's 
"inner light," "religious sentiment," "religious intentions," " spiritual in- 
sight,"' or "christian consciousness." If these or any of them be supreme, 
then the writings of the prophets and apostles are no more inspired than are 
the recorded views and feelings of Bunyan and Payson, or of christians gener- 
ally. And if so, we are without any infallible rule of faith and manners. What 
we have regarded as a revelation supernaturally made is nothing better than the 
light of nature. Indeed, natural and revealed religion become to us one and 
the same. The English and the French deists of the last century were but lit- 
tle, if at all, further from the truth, than Newman and Parker, and the Xeolo- 
gists of Germany in general. 



TOO MUCH ALLEGORIZING. 57 

Spencer* and his followers rob the Old Testament of 
its Christianity, and not a few evangelical authors on the 
other side have betrayed an inclination to over estimate 
the perfection of the Mosaic dispensation. Some have 
found no types of Christ, no resurrection, no immortality 
in the Old Testament ; others spiritualize almost every- 
thing in it. 

Both extremes are to be avoided. Ever since the 
days of Origen, the cause of truth has been more or less 
embarrassed by allegorical interpretations of scripture. 
The fault, in our judgment, of many evangelical writers 
is that they find types, where, oftentimes, we should be 
taught only by suggestion, or by way of accommodation. 
A too liberal or a too literal rule of interpretation may 
be alike erroneous. If the Protestant enhances the dis- 
tinction between the law and the gospel, the Romanist 
underrates it. And both have a theory to support, or 
dogmatical prepossessions to defend. The true view is, 
that the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, who 
fulfilled the law and the prophets, and by one offering of 
himself he hath perfected forever them that are sancti- 
fied. See Heb. x: 12-14. 

There are types as well as prophecies, in the Old 
Testament. But every incident or word of it is not so to 
be interpreted. The Mosaic economy was typical and 
preparatory to the gospel. But the minutice of the tem- 
ple, the nails and badger's skins of the tabernacle, and 



*\See Spencer's works De Leg. Heb. pasism. In answer to him see Witsius on 
the Covenants, lib. iv, c. 11, 12. Also Calvin's Institute, lib. ii, c. 10. While 
it is certainly a great error to rob the Old Testament of its Christianity, it is an 
error of not less magnitude to despoil the distinctive doctrines of the New Tes- 
tament b} r unduly pressing analogies and types out of the Old upon the New. 



58 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

many such things, were not types. A brave man is 
compared to a lion, but it were ridiculous to press the 
analogy, and figure out his resemblance to a lion and 
find the counterpart of the lion's mane and claws. An 
indifference to revealed truth, if not to spiritual religion, 
lies at the bottom of this depreciation of the Old Testa- 
ment. For no book of the Bible is a mere dry statement 
of the past.' They are all instinct with life. Even the 
list of hard names are of importance. Genealogical 
tables are of use in tracing out the promises and veri- 
fying their fulfillment. Our only sure guide is the written 
word of God. We are to listen to what God has said 
— what doctrines and duties he has taught in the lives 
of holy men and women in olden times, not as recorded 
by fabulists, but as recorded by men moved to write by 
the Holy Spirit. The voice of all antiquity is not the 
voice of God. The voice of God comes to us with 
authority only as revealed by his holy prophets and by 
his own son, Jesus Christ and his apostles. He is then 
but poorly qualified to appreciate the gospel, or to teach 
it to others as a minister, or Sabbath school teacher, who 
is a stranger to the treasury of truth contained in the 
Old Testament. Nor are the narratives of the Old Tes- 
tament fit only to instruct adults. They supply the best 
material for impressing on the mind of childhood the 
lessons of our holy religion. 

■• Here mines of knowledge, love and joy 
Are open to our sight ; 
The purest gold without alloy 
And gems divinely bright. 

The councils of redeeming grace 

Their sacred leaves unfold : 
And here the Saviour's lovely face 

Oar raptured eyes behold 



RULED FROM THEIR URNS. 59 

Here, light descending from above 

Directs our doubtful feet, 
Here promises of heavenly love 

Our ardent wishes meet." 

We have the authority of an apostle, that whatsoever 
things were written aforetime by Moses and the prophets 
were written for our learning. There is no fact recorded 
in Bible history that has not its echo still. The living 
world is but the recurring cycles of the past. Many of 
the actors on the stage of past history, are at this mo- 
ment exercising a great influence on the world. Hearts 
long since cold under the green sod have sent out pulsa- 
tions that are now beating, and will not cease till the 
sound of the trumpet of the last day. They, being dead 
yet speak — still live by their influence on the acting 
generation, who will transmit their influence to the gene- 
rations yet to come. The great and good of all past 
ages lived for us. Abel suffered for us. Abraham was 
tried for us. The patriarchs, prophets, lawgivers, and 
wise men of old, " the noble army of martyrs" — all lived 
and died for us. Every mother's babe in Christendom 
is at this moment under the influence of the histories of 
the Bible. Whatsoever was done and said from the 
beginning, is impressing its influence upon our hearts 
and actions at this very moment. If this be true in 
general, as it certainly is, then the biographies of the 
earlier periods of the Bible are worthy of our serious 
attention. They reveal the existence and attributes of 
the Creator, and teach us how men and women like our- 
selves feared and served Grod. 

II. It is desirable, therefore, in the next place, that 
we understand on what plan or method and with what 
design these earlier biographies of the Bible were written. 



60 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

We believe there is a God, a personal, a living God, 
who is a Spirit, infinite and eternal, in contradistinction 
to " the dead god of deism " and pantheism. We have 
a God to glorify and enjoy as well as a soul to save. 
And to enable us to do this, God has spoken to us. He 
has come down to us, that we may go up to him. Our 
Creator has come down to us in various ways and by 
manifold representations — by appearing to the patri- 
archs and speaking to them and the prophets in several 
ways, and last of all, by his son Jesus Christ. Next to 
the existence of God in importance to us, is the question 
of a revelation from him to us as his creatures. If we 
have no access to him — if there is no communication 
between us and our Creator, we are of all creatures the 
most miserable. Our higher nature and nobler aspira- 
tions are then only to make us susceptible of miseries 
the brute can never know. But, " God who, at sundry 
times and in divers manners spake in times past unto 
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days 
spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed 
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. 
Who is the brightness of his glory, and the express 
image of his person." In this God-man, the infinite 
and the finite meet in perfect harmony. 

In the Old Testament as well as the New, we have 
both a revelation from God, and a record in which that 
revelation is enveloped. God has spoken to us, and we 
have a reliable record of what he has said. Hume 
and Gibbon, Voltaire, D'Alembert, Diderot and their 
associates and followers directed their, attacks against 
Christianity itself, but for the last fifty years, the ene- 
mies of the Gospel have chiefly aimed to destroy the 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF OUR DAY. 61 

authority of its written records. They have not busied 
themselves so much in denying the existence or neces- 
sity of revealed religion, as in seeking to destroy all 
dependence upon its record, or the interpretation of it. 
They tell us quite patronizingly, revealed religion is 
desirable. It is a good thing, if we could only know 
what it is. Now we maintain that we have not merely 
the idea of Christianity in the Bible, but we have Chris- 
tianity itself, and we have a suitable, intelligible record 
of it, and of what it is. We may not only know that 

REVEALED TRUTH IS, but We MAY KNOW WHAT IT IS. 

Beyond all controversy, the great question of our day, 
turns upon the interpretation of the Divine Word. It 
is important then for us to be acquainted with the history 
and proofs of Divine revelation, and to know that the 
Bible contains that revelation. The unerring message 
is invested in an infallible record. The Divine Messen- 
ger became incarnate in a perfect human organism. 
The revelation is heavenly, while the record, or history 
of it is earthly ; but this record was made by Divine 
direction. And if the Creator has really made a com- 
munication to our race, we have a right to expect that 
he would take care that it should be made in such a 
way as to embody and bring down to human apprehen- 
sion just what he had to say to us, and that he would 
cause such a record of his revelation to be made and 
preserved, as would make known to the different gener- 
ations of mankind his will for their salvation. Has God 
spoken to us ? Can we find out exactly what he has 
said ? According to our view, these questions are not to 
be separated. For it is an impeachment of the Divine 
wisdom and benevolence to suppose the former without 



62 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

the latter, and the latter of course implies the former. 
As it is scarcely possible in our day to over estimate the 
question of Divine inspiration, at the risk of repeating, 
we shall dwell somewhat on these questions. The 
authority of councils, the orthodoxy of creeds and the 
infallibility of popes, are of no consequence in compari- 
son with the subject of inspiration, nor have we any 
rule by which to settle such questions, until we have 
found infallibility in the Divine Word. If our Crea- 
tor has not revealed himself to us, we have no religion 
at all. And, if he has revealed himself, but allowed 
the record of his own revelation to be so made that we 
cannot know what it is he has revealed, then we are 
made conscious that there is such a thing as a true 
religion, and 'painfully conscious too of our need of it, 
but left totally unable to find it, or to know certainly 
what it is. But to make our answer as broad and as 
direct as our questionings, we say God has spoken from 
heaven to us, and we may know with as much absolute 
certainty as we can know anything, both that God has 
spoken to us and what it is he has said to us. Our 
Creator has revealed his will to us for our salvation, 
and we may knoiv what it is, and what that salvation is. 
In the Bible we have an external revelation, and a real 
inspiration, and in the teachings of the same Spirit of 
God by whom this revelation and inspiration have been 
made, we have also an inward and subjective illumina- 
tion. The concurrence of faith in the former with 
personal experience of the latter constitutes us true 
christians. 

Revelation and inspiration are distinct ; but as Ave 
receive these terms, the one implies the other. By a 



REVELATION AND INSPIRATION. 63 

revelation we mean a communication of truth from God 
to man. By inspiration we mean that the Spirit of God 
moved the prophets and apostles who received commu- 
nications from God to write them out, transferring God's 
thoughts that were put into their minds by his Spirit 
into human language, and so transferring them as not to 
mix any error with them, or make any mistake in the 
use of language. We believe, then, that the Bible is 
God's own inspired Word, and that it is an all-sufficient 
rule of faith and conduct. It does not follow, however, 
that all the revelations that God has been pleased to 
make have been accompanied with the gift of inspiration 
to make a record of them. If we mistake not, some 
have had revelations in the highest sense, who did not 
write them out. And some have been inspired to write, 
Avho were endowed with power to work miracles, and 
yet probably received no revelations themselves. But 
all the revealed truths of holy Scripture have been trans- 
ferred to human language by the inspiration of God. It 
seems to us that one of the prolific causes of the confusion 
that is found in many writers on this subject is the want 
of distinct and clear statements as to what they mean by 
revelation and inspiration. Another cause doubtless is 
that many authors undertake to explain too much, espec- 
ially as to the modus of God's making known his will 
to us. If we are sure of the fact, may we not rest 
content in the assurance that Infinite Wisdom employed 
the right " divers manners " t o make communications to 
our race ? We hold therefore that the sacred writers 
received the truths which they have recorded from God 
in a supernatural way, and that they were commanded 
by God himself to make the transcript of these truths 



64 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

for us, and were so directed and assisted in making this 
transcript by the Holy Spirit, that we have in this tran- 
script not only a true and reliable record of God's 
thoughts concerning us, but the very thoughts themselves. 
The great question then, is not to distinguish between 
the revelation and the record and history of that reve- 
lation, bat to get at what the revelation is — what does it 
reveal ? It is of no use to believe that the revelation is 
itself divine, if its enveloping record is erroneous, for in 
that case, we can never be sure that we have a revela- 
tion of God's will at all. It is to be regretted that so 
able a writer as Soame Jenyns in exalting the importance 
of the " Internal Evidences of the Christian Religion," 
should have thought it necessary to make so marked a 
distinction between the revelation that God has made to 
us, and the history we have of that revelation. He 
contends that we have a heavenly message, but "it is 
enclosed in a fallible earthly case, by which it is indeed 
polluted." And yet, he says the human errors and 
imperfections of the history of this revelation do not 
effect its divine origin. "A diamond, though found in a 
bed of mud, is still a diamond, nor can the dirt which 
surrounds it depreciate its value or destroy its lustre." 
In the translation, versions and transcriptions of the 
ancient writings of the prophets and aj:>ostles, and in the 
different editions of our holy Scriptures, there are verbal 
inaccuracies. If there were not, they have been pre- 
vented by a continued miracle. And it is doubtless true, 
that the sacred writers have recorded some things that 
they did not need supernatural influence to teach to 
them. If Luke has copied his genealogy of the mother 
of our Lord from the Hebrew tables in common use at 



THE MESSAGE IS OF GOD. 65 

Jerusalem or Nazareth, lie did not require any other 
special divine assistance to do it, than to originate the 
conception of so doing. And Paul could tell his name, 
and how he had left his cloak and parchments at Troas 
without the miraculous guidance of the Holy Ghost. 
But even in recording such natural events, or circum- 
stances of common life, as they could have recorded if 
they had not been projDhets and apostles, they were so 
guided and overruled, as to record nothing but what the 
Holy Spirit saw it best to have recorded for the end in 
view. We have therefore a revelation from God, and 
such a record and history of that revelation as God him- 
self caused to be written by his Holy Spirit. The 
Bible is the Word of the one, only, living and 
true God. We cannot believe that it is "a heap of 
mummery and priestcraft," nor that the Creator should 
make a revelation of himself to man, and yet not pro- 
vide suitably for the communication of that revelation. 
It is to call in question his sincerity and wisdom, to say 
that he has revealed certain doctrines for the salvation 
of mankind, and yet made no provision for an infallibly 
valid vehicle of that revelation. In the Scriptures, then, 
of the Old and New Testaments ive have the revelation of 
God, and the record of it, and it is comparatively easy 
to distinguish and separate the perfect from the imper- 
fect of that record. It surely is no argument against the 
inspiration of Isaiah, that some words in our translation 
should be spelled differently in different editions ; or that 
there should be a difference in punctuation and such 
other minutiae. The essential integrity of the sacred 
text has been preserved. The message and the vehicle 
of the message are from God. What God has revealed 



66 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

has been written for us by his direction. The sacred 
writers were moved by the Holy Ghost to write as they 
did. What then have they written, and for what pur- 
pose did the Holy Ghost move them to write ? The 
Bible is no more without a design, a plan and a unity 
than is the universe. Though composed of two great 
departments, and of many different books written by dif- 
ferent authors, stretching over about two thousand years, 
and living and writing at different periods and different 
places, still the Bible is not a series of detached and 
independent documents, mechanically strung together by 
the hand of a compiler, nor is it a farrago of heteroge- 
neous fragments accidentally combined. On the contrary, 
it is a bona fide history. It is pervaded from beginning 
to end by one dominant idea. One great specific pur- 
pose is in view from the first word of Genesis to the end 
of the Revelation of John. On what 'plan then was the 
Bible tvritten and for what purpose ? 

Some tell us that the Old Testament in particular is 
a collection of romances — -that the patriarchs and jndges 
of Israel were mere Bedouin or nomadic chiefs, like the 
Sheikhs of the modern Arabs, and that the germ of 
truth was furnished by their lives, which the writer has 
taken, and worked up after the most approved manner 
of fiction. The Old Testament according to this view, 
is nothing but a biography of some wandering chieftains, 
written in the style of oriental exaggeration. Some who 
are ashamed of such a theory as this, modify it, by tell- 
ing us, the lives of the patriarchs and judges were never 
meant to be received as true histories at all, but as mere 
poetical descriptions of life and manners of early times, 
somewhat after the manner of the Eclogues and Buco- 



WASHINGTON NOT A MYTH. 67 

lies. What then becomes of the historic memoirs, na- 
tional festivals commemorative of actual events, and of 
contemporary and subsequent allusions in the history of 
other nations, and of the superiority of their style and 
of their doctrines, and of this whole class of proofs and 
subjects ? 

Another view is that the history of the patriarchs and 
judges is strictly true, but not of them as individuals ; 
but as a history of races and revolutions. Abraham, 
Joseph and Samuel are according to their view not the 
names of individuals, but ideal types of principles or of 
races. They are myths, that is, " ideas clothed in facts." 
And these myths were invented to explain subsequent 
events. Just as if the history of the beginning of the 
American Revolution about the stamp act and the tax 
on tea, and the battle of Bunker Hill had been invented 
to account for the present fact that the United States is 
an independent nation and separate from Great Britain. 
And that Washington was not an individual at all, but 
a name invented and made to represent the embodiment 
of the heroic deeds of our ancestors. It is certainly a 
sufficient answer to such a theory to say that the ancients 
were as palpable individualities as we are ourselves. It 
is no easy matter to refine and sublimate their flesh and 
blood and personal actions into mere myths. Does not 
primeval history deal with individualities as truly as 
the history of our own times ? The same philosophy 
that makes Homer, or Socrates, Moses or Abraham a 
myth, would make all the past nothing but a myth to us, 
and we ourselves myths to our successors. The true 
view is a happy deliverance from such artificial and 
erroneous systems. It is this : The history of Bible 



68 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

characters was recorded for the moral improvement of 
mankind, by furnishing examples of virtue and vice, the 
one rewarded and the other punished. In and along 
with this history we have an embodiment of Divine 
Revelation, so that the doctrines and principles revealed 
and the duties taught are illustrated by living examples, 
and the well-being of those that do well, and the ill-being 
of those that do evil are set forth as an encouragement 
to do well, and a warning to cease from evil. And the 
revelation contained in the Old Testament and the his- 
tory and record of that revelation are all so made as to 
be introductory to the Gospel dispensation. Moses, the 
law and the prophets prepared the way for the coming 
of Christ. 

It follows, therefore, that if the history of Bible char- 
acters is a true biography of individuals, we shall have 
a full face view of men and women, as they really 
were. Accordingly, it is not a profile picture we have, 
but a true full face. Their faults are recorded as faith- 
fully as their virtues. There is no attempt made by the 
sacred writers to justify or explain away every appear- 
ance of a fault in the conduct of those of whom they 
write, nor is there any tampering with the principles of 
morals, to excuse them. And if the specific purpose of 
the writings of Moses, was to prepare the chosen people 
for their covenant relation to Jehovah, and through them 
to prepare the ancient church and the world for the com- 
ing of the long promised Messiah, still it remains true 
that we have a truthful record of individuals, and of 
divine communications made to them. 

The main design of the record that we have of the 
patriarchs, and of the chosen people of God, was to teach 



THE LINE OF BLESSING. 69 

mankind that it was true, that God had always in some 
way kept up a communication with the human race. By 
acts, promises, commands, and manifest tokens of the 
Divine presence, the great idea was alive in the mind of 
some one, who in that particular, was a representative 
and depository for his race, that God was still accessible 
to his creatures — that he was manifesting, and would 
still more clearly manifest himself to mankind. First 
he called Abraham, then the promise was to his descend- 
ants, and in process of time they became a great people 
and to them were committed the oracles of God. As 
mankind multiplied and spread abroad, the line became 
more distinctive, but as the time drew near, clearer and 
clearer intimations were given of the extension of the 
blessings of Abraham's covenant seed by the coming 
and kingdom of the great Messiah. Of necessity there- 
fore the history of the chosen people who were the 
depository of the divine oracles must be a record of 
gracious and providential interpositions, as well as of 
individual verities. We should expect a priori to find 
in it a supernatural element, prophecy and miracle, 
theophanies, or divine appearances in human form, as 
well as a record of the accidents of humanity in commu- 
nion with the Deity. Now it would be unnatural if 
there had been no imperfections to record in the lives 
of the patriarchs, judges, prophets and kings of Israel. 
And if they had not been men of like passions with our- 
selves, or even wors«, there had been no such display of 
sovereignty in selecting them, as would correct their 
pride. The intrinsic weakness of the vessel is clearly 
shown, that it may be confessed that it was an act of pure 
sovereignty that chose them as the channels of divine 



70 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

grace. Oftentimes their own views and cherished wishes 
were thwarted. Abraham's hopes in Ishmael, Isaac's 
in Joseph were disappointed. The promised seed came 
not in the line of either. The prophetic preeminence 
was lodged elsewhere. The patriarchs received special 
divine favors, not because they were perfect — not because 
they were better than all the rest of their cotemporaries. 
It may be doubted, speaking after the manner of men, if 
Melchesidek was not more entitled to the distinction of 
being the progenitor of the chosen race than Abram of 
the Chaldees. 

At least, as it was not a reward for extraordinary piety 
that the patriarchs received such favors, so neither was 
it because of their transgressions, but in spite of them. 
It was not for their sakes, but for a far higher and 
greater purpose. And as a corrective of corruption and 
pride — of despondency and presumption, a faithful nar- 
rative has been given of them as men, and the Divine 
sovereignty is manifested in their salvation, and in the 
manner of their treatment, as well as in the record that 
has been made of the revelation made to them. It was 
certainly a palpable lesson to the Hebrew and a power- 
ful corrective of his pride, to know that, if through 
David's race, he was of Abraham, " the friend of God," 
that Ishmael was not less Abraham's son, and Esau was 
Jacob's brother, and Moab and Ammon were the sons of 
Lot. The Bible is a map that traces all nations to a 
common origin, and shows that though their lines of 
descent are continually crossing one another, still God 
has kept his chosen people distinct, that in them he 
might show forth his sovereignty and the severity of 
his judgments and the greatness of his mercy. 



BIBLE HEROES NOT SAINTS. 71 

It is not necessary for maintaining this design of Bible 
biography, that we should deny that there were any 
other purposes in view. Collateral and minor ends were 
no doubt answered in the Pentateuch, and in the history 
of the Judges, and through the whole and by the whole, 
the ancient church is seen as a type of that which was to 
come. 

While, then, it is a painful fact, it is nevertheless an 
instructive one, that we have no perfect biography in the 
Bible, except that of the Son of God, the Holy One. 
The patriarchs were all guilty of some dark sin. The 
apostles were not blameless. They all had their fail- 
ings. We must remember, however, that the Bible in 
recording the sins of patriarchs and apostles does not 
approve of their sinful acts. The Bible does not tell us 
that such acts were the perfect fruits of their faith. On 
the contrary, their creed condemned every one of their 
sins. Their errors were not the consequences of their 
religion, but in spite of it. It was not because they were 
pious, that they fell into such grievous sins, but because 
they had not piety enough to resist their own depraved 
inclinations and the devil's temptations. And in the fact 
that the sacred writers describe with impartiality both 
the faults and the virtues of the founders of their nation ? 
we have a strong proof that they wrote by the inspira- 
tion of God. As Jews they were exceedingly proud, 
and disposed to magnify everything that belonged to 
their nation. It must have been therefore sorely against 
their natural feelings to record the glaring misdeeds of 
their fathers, patriarchs, judges, and prophets. It was 
against their national pride and patriotism, to do so ; yet 
we find them all honest, faithful and impartial in their 



72 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

memoirs of the heroes of their nation. Even Morell in 
his Philosophy of Religion, admits that if the Spirit of 
God was in the Hebrew church, " then the writings which 
embody this religious state are inspired." But in the 
record of their religious state we are not to expect " a 
higher religion or a more perfect morality than actually 
existed in those times ; hence accordingly the imperfec- 
tions both in moral and religious ideas which are mixed 
up with all their sacred writings." — Page 169. 

Finally. It is not true therefore that the Old Testa- 
ment is a failure. It accomplished all it was intended 
to do. It is not true that the Creator set up one religion 
for one race in the age of the patriarchs, and finding that 
it did not work well, tried to mend it by the Mosaic dis- 
pensation, and then repaired Moses' institutes by the 
prophets. This is the mere garrulity of obsolete Deism. 
The religion of the Bible is one. Christianity is as old 
as the creation. Abel and Noah were christians as 
much as Peter and Paul. They looked forward, while 
Peter and Paul looked back. They anticipated the 
sacrifice on Calvary, while the apostles and all chris- 
tians since the incarnation keep it in remembrance. 
God's plan of revealing redemption from the beginning 
was to be progressive to the incarnation. The old dispen- 
sation was not intended to be effectual or final in itself. It 
was the shadow of good things to come. And the promises 
fulfilled in us are as necessary as the promises given to 
the patriarchs. "They are like the two parts of a tally. 
The fathers had one part, in the promises, and we the 
other in the fulfillment, and neither would have been 
complete without the other." — Barnes. 



• 

Samsons lawnls--- %\t ]§m ^romistk 



j> 



CHAPTER IV. 



SAMSON'S PARENTS THE HERO PROMISED. 

" wherefore was my birth from heaven foretold 

Twice by an angel ? 

Why was my breeding order'd and prescrib'd 
As of a person separate to God, 
Design'd for great exploits V— Samson. 

In a previous chapter I have considered at some length 
the plan, method and design of the biographies of the 
Scriptures, especially of the earlier ones, and have 
attempted to set forth briefly the true nature of the reve- 
lation and inspiration of the Bible, which not only con- 
tains the word of God, but is the word of God itself. 
This has been deemed a necessary introduction to the 
inspired history which it is our purpose now to explain, 
because confessedly in our day, the question is, what does 
the Bible reveal f As a book, as the book, and as a vol- 
ume of history it has its place in the world, from which 
its enemies have despaired of ever being able to remove 
it. The great question therefore now is, what does the 
Bible say ? — Can we arrive at a reliable interpretation of 
the Scriptures f Most certainly. We have a revelation 
from God, and an inspired record of that revelation. 
And this revelation and record are both made in such a 
way that we may know the will of God for our salva- 



76 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

tion. As we believe with Bishop Horsley that every 
word of the Bible is from God, and every man is inter- 
ested in it, so it is our purpose in these chapters on the 
" Life of the Hebrew Hercules," to give a condensed 
commentary upon the text, and draw from it the life of 
our hero. We shall introduce to you therefore without 
further ceremony Samson's parents receiving the promise 
of the hero-child. 

What then was their political condition, and how were 
they circumstanced as to their neighbors ? 

And the children of Israel did evil again. That is, 
according to the Hebrew, added to commit evil, the evil 
of the idolatry of the surrounding heathen, which in their 
case was both treason and impiety. And the Lord deliv- 
ered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 

Here are three points to be noticed. 

1. Who were the Philistines? 

2. In what sense did their oppression of Israel con- 
tinue forty years ? 

3. What is the meaning of the phrase, " And the 
Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines ?" 

First. The Philistines are believed to have been a 
colony from Egypt. The old name Palestina is supposed 
to be a corruption of Philistia. If so, the whole land 
of promise derived one of the names by which it is desig- 
nated from a people who never possessed more than a 
small part of it. The name Palestina was first applied 
to the strip of country lying along the Mediterranean 
from Lydda to Gaza ; then to that part of Canaan 
between the sea and the Jordan, and finally to the whole 
country ; so that the land of promise, Judea, Canaan and 
Palestine became synonymous. 



PHILISTINE SUPERIORITY. 77 

It is evident that the Philistines in the days of the 
judges, and probably in the days of the patriarchs also, 
were superior to any of their neighbors. They were 
certainly a powerful people in Abraham's day. This we 
should expect, if they were an Egyption colony, for the 
ancient Egyptians were altogether the most civilized and 
the best people of their day. Some suppose the Philis- 
tines were the Arabians expelled from Egypt, and 
known as " the Shepherd Kings," on account of whose 
depredations on Egypt, every shepherd was reckoned 
" an abomination." As a proof of their superiority, we 
may observe that it is said in Samuel iii : 19, 21, that in 
the beginning of Saul's reign no smith was found in 
Israel, so that the Israelites were obliged to go down to 
the land of the Philistines to sharpen their ploughshares, 
coulters, axes and mattocks.** 

Even after David's conquest, we read of the Philis- 
tines as a powerful people. They rose in rebellion 
against Jehoram, and made great slaughter in the land 
of Judah during the reign of Ahab. They were again 
brought into subjection by Hezekiah. The prophets 
Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel allude 
to them. They were partially subdued by Esarhaddon, 
king of Assyria, and afterwards by the king of Egypt, 
and still more reduced by Nebuchadnezzar, king of 
Babylon. The Persians, and then the Greeks under 
Alexander the Great overran their country. Some allu- 
sion is made to them in the days of the Asmonean 
Princes, and then they are lost from history. 



♦According to Virgil, the best tempered steel in early ages was from the iron 
woi'ks of the Chalybes. "At Chalybes nudi ferrum." Does not this want a 
commentator ? 



78 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

According to the Greek translation of the Bible, the 
name Philistine is not Hebrew. They understood it to 
mean strangers, or men of another tribe. If this be 
correct, the name is singularly appropriate to the holy 
land. It was emphatically promised to the pilgrim 
patriarchs. 

From Amos ix : 7 and Jeremiah xlvii : 4, learned men 
think that the Caphtorim were descendants of Mizraim, 
father of the Egyptians. Gen. x : 13, 14. And from 
Deut. ii : 23, it appears, the Caphtorim drove out the 
Avim from Hazerim to Azzah, (that is, Gaza) and dwelt 
in their stead. If, as it seems to us, the Casluhim, Caph- 
torim, Cherethites and Philistines are one and the same 
people, then we should conclude that the Philistines were 
from Egypt, and that the most influential part of them 
came to the main land of Syria from Crete. As the 
Cherethites and the Cretans are the same, are we not 
authorized to identify Caphtor and Crete ? See Ezekiel 
xxv : 16 ; Zeph. ii : 5 ; 1 Sam. xxx : 14, 15. From the 
history of the kings of Judah, it appears that their guards 
were sometimes Philistines, who were known under the 
name of Pelethites and Cherethites. These Pelethite 
(Philistine) guards answered to the Capigis among the 
Turks. If Caphtor is not Crete, where is it ? If the 
Philistines were not from Egypt, whence came they? 
Does not their history render their Egyptian origin 
very probable ? Some, indeed, think that Caphtor was 
in the Delta. Dr. Clark believes it identical with Cyprus, 
but gives no satisfactory reason. If, as some think, Cas- 
luhim meant inhabitants of Colchis, then they were of 
Egyptian origin ; . for almost all authors agree that 
Colchis was peopled from Egypt. " And Pathrusim, and 



THE FORTY YEARS' OPPRESSION. 79 

Casluhim, out of whom came Philistine and Caphtorim." 
Gen. x: 14. 

The government of the Philistines was spasmodic and 
changeable. In the time of David and in the days of 
Abraham, they had a king ; but during the administra- 
tion of the Judges, they had a government very similar 
to that of the Hebrews. Their five great cities consti- 
tuted so many states, each having its own chief. These 
chiefs are in our text called lords. The term, seranim, 
is found only in the plural. Sometimes, however, they 
are found confederate together, making common cause 
against their national enemy. They were essentially 
one people. They had the same laws and religion, and 
spoke the same language. 

Secondly. It is probable the, forty years date from the 
ascendancy of their enemies as recorded in the tenth chap- 
ter, verses six, seven, and eight. That is, from Eglon to 
Samson, including the twenty years of his administration. 
The case seems to stand in this way : the Philistines, 
who were the most powerful of all their enemies at that 
time, had tyrannized over the Israelites for twenty years, 
when Samson appeared as their deliverer. During this 
twenty years they had suffered oppression without any 
redress, or any one to deliver them. Samson arose and 
acted as their champion for twenty years, which make 
the forty years of the text. It must be confessed, how- 
ever, that the chronology and dates of this period are not 
very clearly stated. The connexion of the text is with 
the period occupied in the previous chapters. In the 
beginning of this thirteenth chapter, the writer seems to 
turn back, and speak again of the previous oppressions 
of his countrymen by the Philistines, in order to intro- 



80 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

duce Samson as their champion. And hence, he says, 
that from the beginning of this particular ascendancy of 
the Philistines to the death of Samson when he finished 
his deliverance, for the Hebrews, it was forty years. 

Thirdly. After Shamgar's exploits as recorded in a 
previous chapter, the Hebrews had a little repose. But 
now as they have again departed from the living God, 
so the Philistines are again commissioned to punish them. 
The Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines. 
The struggle between the Hebrews and Philistines was 
one of great obstinacy and vicissitude. It was a border 
war. Neither was able wholly to subdue the other. 

In the second chapter, fourteenth verse, the enemies 
of God's chosen people are called spoilers ; that is, rob- 
bers, such as were the plundering Canaanites. The term 
also means, oppressors, in general. And to them it is 
said, the Lord sold the Israelites. The Hebrew for sold 
signifies " to alienate the possession of anything for a 
valuable consideration." It is sometimes used, however, 
without the annexed idea of an equivalent rendered. 
When, therefore, as in this passage : " the anger of the 
Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the 
hands of their enemies around about them," the meaning 
is not that the Lord made the Israelites to sin, but that 
he withdrew from them his peculiar protection, and that 
he did this because of their rebellion against him. The 
scriptures often represent the withdrawing of God's favor 
as the greatest calamity that can befall a nation or an 
individual. See Ps. xliv : 13; Isa. 1:1; Deut. xxxii : 
30 ; and Judges iii : 8 ; and iv : 8. Moses had told 
them that when they were disobedient to the Lord, he 
would withdraw from them his peculiar presence, which 



GOD SOVEREIGN MAN FREE. 81 

was their only safety. The delivery of the Hebrews, 
therefore, into the hands of the Philistines, was nothing 
but the fulfillment of the solemn threatening made to 
their fathers and repeated to themselves. It was but 
the execution of the just sentence of God, who was then 
their king, for their disobedience. And to secure this 
execution, it was only necessary for the divine protection 
to be withdrawn. When left to themselves they were 
an easy prey to the warlike heathen. The absence of 
the sun leaves us in darkness. God is not the author of 
sin, nor can men blame their Creator with their evil 
ways. Learned theologians have recourse to various 
intermediate explanations by which to reconcile divine 
sovereignty and man's free agency. But it is quite 
sufficient for me to know that God is sovereign and man 
is free. And though I were not able to perceive how 
God " sold " the Israelites into the hand of the Philis- 
tines, and that yet it was for their own sins, or how 
Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and that God hardened 
Pharaoh's heart ; yet still, I am persuaded of both facts, 
and hold them both to be consistent with ethical and 
mental philosophy. What if there be a transcendental 
difficulty in such a harmony ? Is there not just the 
same in every question that is any how connected with 
the origin of moral or physical evil ? It is doubtless true 
that God is sometimes represented in the Bible as doing 
what he only permits. And yet I am frank to say that 
I feel no necessity for, nor do I take pleasure in dwell- 
ing on such theological distinctions. I see not that these 
distinctions between a divine permission and a divine 
appointment, founded on the vis inertice of created 
minds, which are as clay in the hands of the potter, are 



82 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

really any relief. These metaphysical distinctions do 
not relieve human accountability from the difficulties 
that mental philosophy, or the light of nature throws 
upon it. The only explanation of the difficulty is the 
authority of God for the facts. Nor am I able to find 
such distinctions in the word of God. Where do the 
scriptures qualify or attempt to explain and harmonize 
the statements about Pharaoh's heart ? Why should our 
theologians be more jealous of the divine character than 
the writers of the Bible ? Where is our faith ? Is not 
God just and is he not sovereign? May we not rest 
satisfied with the facts stated by inspired men upon the 
authority of God ? 

Is it not true every Lord's day, that some of you listen 
to the divine word, and that hearing it with indifference, 
or with aversion, you refuse obedience, and thereby 
harden your own heart under the very process that was 
graciously designed to soften it ? And in doing so, are 
you not still conscious of your own free agency ? The 
offer of pardon is made to you in good faith. There is 
no deficiency in it. The sun that melts one substance 
hardens another ; not because the sun is in any respect 
another and a different body to the one from what it is 
to the other. The ground of the different and diverse 
effect is in the nature of the body acted upon by the sun, 
and not owing to any change or defect in the orb of day. 
Salvation is always of the Lord, and perdition is always 
the work of the sinner's own hand. There is nothing 
between the greatest sinner and salvation, but his own 
unwillingness to accept of it as a free, sovereign gift 
through Jesus Christ as the only redeemer. 

St. Augustine explains this crux criticorum, by saying 



samson's father and mother. 83 

" God does not harden men by infusing malice into them, 
but by not impairing mercy to them. God does not 
work this hardening of heart in man, but he may be said 
to harden him whom he does not soften, to blind him 
whom he does not enlighten, and to repel him, whom he 
refuses to call."* 

From the second verse, we learn that Samson's father 
belonged to the tribe of Dan, and the town of Zorah, 
which seems to have been a border town between the 
territories of Dan and Judah, and near the country of 
the Philistines. Joshua xv : 33. Eusebius says Zorah 
was ten miles from Eleutheropolis. Calmet thinks the 
Zorites of 1 Chron. ii : 54, and the Zorathites of 1 Chron. 
iv : 2, belonged to Manoah's town. 

Barren and bare not is the usual Hebrew affirmation 
emphatic. " Thou shalt die and not live." " And he 
confessed and denied not." " But Sarai was barren : 
she had no child." 

All we know of Manoah impresses us with the belief, 
that Josephus is correct in saying that he was a man of 
great virtue, had but few equals, and was without dispute 
the principal person of his country in his day. His wife's 
name is not recorded in the Bible, nor by Josephus. He 
says, however, that she was celebrated for her beauty 
and her piety. 

Samson's father was a man of extraordinary faith. 
He is the only one of whom the Bible speaks, that 
received a promise from an angel or prophet without 



*Non obdurat Deus impartiendo malitiara,sed non impartiendo misericor- 
diam. Non operatur Deus in nomine ipsam duritiam cordis, sed indurare 
eum dicitur quem mollire noluerit, sic etiam excsecare quern illuminare 
noluerit, et repellere eum quem noluerit vocare."— Epis. 194, ad Sixtum. 



84 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

hesitation or doubt. Abraham required some proof. 
Sarah " laughed." The Shunamite woman said to 
Elisha, " Nay my Lord, do not lie unto thine handmaid." 
Zachariah said, " Whereby shall I know this ?" and was 
struck dumb for his unbelief until John the Baptist was 
born. And Mary, the mother of our Lord, said, " How 
can this thing be ?" But when Manoah is told by his 
wife and then by the angel what is to take place, he 
believed without any hesitation, and only desired to be 
instructed as to how they were to bring up the promised 
child. And th& angel of the Lord appeared unto the 
woman, and said unto her, behold now, thou art barren, 
and barest not : but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 

Now therefore, beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, 
nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For, 
lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son : and no razor 
shall come on his head ; for the child shall be a Nazarite 
unto God from the womb ; and he shall begin to deliver 
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. — Verses 3, 4, 5. 

And the angel of the Lord, that is, " the Son of God 
himself," according to Diodati and most evangelical com- 
mentators. Of this matter we shall speak again in the 
next chapter. 

The angel told the woman what she already well 
knew — what was indeed the cause of great grief to her — 
not to upbraid her or aggravate her grief. There is no 
reproach cast upon her in the angel's address. His 
purpose was to give her confidence — to convince her 
that he was a true prophet, and competent to make the 
promise of a son — and that she ought therefore to believe 
his words. Like a skillful medical man, he describes 
first the disease, that he may inspire his patient with 



TRUE RULE OF MIRACLES. 85 

confidence in his sympathy for him and ability to apply 
the proper remedy. Our blessed Lord followed the 
same method in arresting the attention of the impotent 
man at the pool. He awakened him to the fact of his 
presence and assured him of his sympathy and inspired 
him with hope by asking him if he would be made whole. 
And he told the woman of Samaria enough of her life to 
convince her he was a prophet, and prepared her at last 
to confess that he was the Messiah himself. 

The prohibition in the fourth verse does not imply 
that she had been guilty of excess. Nor is it intimated 
that such things were not lawful at other times and to 
other persons. It is true some meats were regarded as 
unclean among the Jews. The distinction of clean and 
unclean animals is at least as old as Noah, and no doubt 
as old as sacrifices. But it was especially forbidden to 
a Nazarite to touch anything unclean. The angel would 
have her understand that the sanctifying of her child 
was to begin with herself. From her conception, the 
child was to be regarded as consecrated in an esj)ecial 
manner to God. And if during her gestation and nurs- 
ing, she was thus abstemious, the extraordinary strength 
of the child would be the less liable to be ascribed to 
any false or fictitious cause. There was a natural fitness 
in the prescribed regimen and temperament to produce 
a healthful child, but his superhuman strength cannot be 
accounted for from merely natural causes. A miracu- 
lous agency was employed, as we shall see in the 
unfoldings of his history ; yet it was then as in many 
other cases, the divine rule, that the ordinary natural 
means should be used. Miracles do not supersede, 
but go beyond and above ordinary agencies. There is 






86 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

always a harmony between divine efficiency and human 
agency. 

A Nazarite unto God from the womb, means one set 
apart and consecrated especially to the service of God. 
There is no connection between a Nazarite and a Naza- 
rene. The latter means an inhabitant of Nazareth, the 
town of our Lord's parents. But a Nazarite was one 
wholly devoted to God. And of such it was especially 
required, that they should not shave their head. The 
law of the Nazarite can be found in Numbers vi. Though 
expected to be a person of uncommon self denial and 
sanctity, the Nazarite was not a recluse, nor an ascetic. 
He did not live in a cell, nor on a pillar, nor in the wil- 
derness. He might eat, drink, marry and live in society 
as other men, excepting that he was to avoid all ceremo- 
nial pollution, and especially never to come in contact 
with a dead body. The vow to abstain from wine and 
not to shave the head might be for a limited time or for 
life. In the case of Samson, of Samuel and of John 
the Baptist, however, the consecration was made before 
their birth and was to continue till death. I believe 
Samson is the first person mentioned in the Bible by 
name as an actual Nazarite. Like Isaac, Samuel and 
John the Baptist, he was the only son of a mother long 
childless. 

" Mercies long waited for, often prove signal mercies, 
and it is made to appear they were worth waiting for, 
and by them others may be encouraged to continue their 
hope in God's mercy." — Henry. 

The mother of Israel's only giant drinks nothing but 
water, and the child himself tastes nothing but " Adam's 
ale." " And never did wine," says the pious Hall " make 



TEMPERANCE IS STRENGTH. 87 

so strong a champion as water did here. The power of 
nourishment is not in the creatures, but in their maker. 
Daniel and his three companions kept their complexion 
with the same diet wherewith Samson got his strength ; 
he that gave power to the grape, can give it to the stream. 
O God how, how justly do we raise our eyes from our 
tables unto thee, which canst make water nourish and 
wine enfeeble." 



Oh ! madness to think use of strongest wines 
And strongest drinks our chief support of health, 
When God with these forbidd'n made choice to rear 
His mighty champion, strong above compare, 
Whose drink was only from the liquid brook." 



Special holiness eminently becomes special appoint- 
ments to divine service. Special care in food and drink 
was required of her who was to be the mother of Sam- 
son. The man of the world may take his full scope and 
deny himself nothing. And verily he hath his reward. 
He may indulge the pride of his heart and the lust of his 
eyes, not without sin indeed, but with less guilt than one 
who professes to be a christian. For having named the 
name of Christ, we must be careful to depart from all 
iniquity. If we are Christ's we must have his spirit. If 
christians, we are consecrated to God as true Nazarites. 
The man of the world has all his good things now, and 
it is a miserable, poor portion. The believer's good 
things are to come. They are in Heaven. 

And he shall begin to deliver Israel. Samson only 
began to deliver Israel, for it was not till the days of 
David, that the Philistines were entirely subdued. Begin 
to deliver seems here to mean, some deliverance — pledges, 
specimens of what their God was able to do for them, 






88 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

and proofs that although they had been so grievously 
oppressed by the Amorites on their eastern border, and 
now by the Philistines on the west, still he had not 
wholly forsaken them. The deliverance begun by Sam- 
son was most timely. This was the darkest hour of their 
oppression. Their condition was most humiliating and 
their enemies most insultingly cruel. It was God's time 
for Moses to come, when the tail of bricks was doubled. 
" Cum latera duplicantur Moses adest." Begin to deliver 
also suggests that God's usual method is to work gradu- 
ally. <• He has ordered that one shall sow, and another 
reap. One lays the foundation, another brings forth the 
capstone with shoutings, crying grace, grace unto it. 

Samson was the first hero of the tribe of Dan. Jacob 
in his dying blessing had said : " Dan shall be a serpent 
by the way, an adder in the path, biting the heels of the 
horse, so that his rider shall fall backwards." Gen. xlix : 
16, 17. And as the name Dan signifies judge or judg- 
ment, it has been suggested, that it was a divine foretell- 
ing of Samson, that Jacob uttered in dying, when he 
said, Dan shall judge his people. That is, of this tribe 
shall arise a distinguished judge. And this could be no 
other that Samson. The prophecy related to the fortunes 
and exploits of Dan's posterity, and not to himself per- 
sonally, and was fulfilled more remarkably in Manoah's 
son, than in any other man of his tribe. As the terri- 
tory of Dan bordered on the cities of the Philistines, it 
was natural for them to be the most exposed to their 
depredations. It was therefore proper that the avenger 
and deliverer of Israel should arise out of this tribe. 

We see also that afflictions are occasions for God's 
appearance. Divine help is always opportunely. The 



• «• 



SONS OF GREAT MEN. 89 

promise is that grace shall be given to us not before, but 
according to our day. Only the sick really know the 
blessings of recovery to health. If Manoah's wife had 
not been in grief, the angel had not been sent to comfort 
her. It has been happily remarked that in the Bible 
angels and prophets were often sent with glad tidings to 
women that were without children, and in much sorrow 
on that account. And it has been asked why was this, 
and why were the sons thus promised so distinguished, 
since but few great men have sons equal to themselves ? 
There is an answer to all the points of this inquiry with- 
out impeaching either the justice or goodness of God. 
The inferiority of the sons of great men may be owing 
to the weakness of the mother, or to the neglect of their 
early training. It is well known that some distinguished 
men have married women not at all their equals, nor fit 
to be their companions. And it is quite as well known, 
that great men are so occupied with public cares or so 
diligently employed in the pursuit of knowledge, that 
their own children are often neglected. The main point 
in hand here, however, is the illustration that God's gra- 
cious deliverances are always opportunely sent. I am 
aware that various conjectures have been made to satisfy 
the rather over curious, if not profane infidel question — 
Why did the angel appear to the wife rather than to the 
husband ? No reason is stated. Nor do I see that we 
are under any obligations to vindicate our narrative for 
this omission. The fact of the angel's appearance is 
recorded. But we do not know whether he was sent to 
the woman-wife, because it was her reproach rather 
than her husband's that she was not fruitful— or whether 
it was because she was to endure the pain of parturition ; 



90 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

or because she took the matter more to heart than her 
husband did. If we must find a reason, the last is most 
to our mind. For it is always true, that God's mercies 
are well-timed and properly directed. The history of the 
pious proves conclusively, that if Satan ply his heavy 
batteries upon the weakest, God does not fail to address 
consolation to those that are most in need. The promises 
of God are like a certain kind of bridge ; the more heavy 
the pressure upon them, the stronger they are. The 
believer is fortified abundantly with exceeding great and 
precious promises. Eve was the most dejected ; to her 
therefore was the promise especially addressed. It is 
not said, Adam's seed ; but the seed of the woman shall 
bruise the serpent's head. Manoah's wife is the most 
troubled, to her therefore is the divine messenger sent ; 
and sent to her first, because the announcement to a bar- 
ren woman of the birth of a distinguished son, would 
impress her and her husband and countrymen with the 
idea that such a son was from the Lord, and designed 
by him to be a special blessing. All children are divine 
gifts. They are God's heritage. They come only at 
his bidding. But when some special mission was designed, 
it was proper to give distinction to the appointment. 

Secondly. A son given under such solemn promises 
and instruction would be better taken care of. A gift 
thus made would be more highly valued. The education 
of children is a fearful responsibility. And even the 
best mothers need divine help and admonitions. In the 
East it is still considered a disgrace and a mark of divine 
displeasure, to have a childless house. Among the 
ancient Hebrews the desire for children was rendered 
even more intense than among other nations, because of 



THE GOOD WIFE. 91 

the promises. Every Hebrew wife seems to have hoped 
she would be the mother of the Messiah, or at least of 
his progenitor. Vows and prayers and expensive cere- 
monies were resorted to as a means of prevailing upon 
God to give them children. And to this day, in the 
schools of the East, boys may be seen with elf locks, 
which are memorials of vows to God for favor granted 
in their gift. See verses six, seven and eight. Man of 
God, that is, a holy prophet. Very terrible, that is, accord- 
ing to Diodati, " majestical, glorious and sparkling with 
light." The woman seems to say, his countenance was 
so like that of an angel of God — so commanding, so 
awful, and inspired me with such awe, that I feared to 
ask him any questions. 

" Samson had not a better mother than Manoah had a 
wife." As a good wife, she at once told her husband of 
God's messenger. And Manoah at once applies at 
head-quarters. He goes immediately to prayer, saying, 
" O my Lord, I pray thee, let that man of God my wife 
speaks of come again, and tell us fully how we are to 
bring up the child." He had not seen God's messenger. 
He has yet but a meagre account of the interview ; but 
his faith takes hold of the promise, nothing doubting. 

Josephus thinks, but without authority, that Manoah's 
mind was disturbed by what his wife had said of the 
man of God, and that he wished to have some further 
knowledge of this strange visitor. There is not a sylla- 
ble, however, to warrant any such jealous suspicion. 
On the contrary, his desire was to obtain information as 
to the bringing up of the child. His wife in all things 
seems to have been dutiful, confiding and affectionate. 
She reports at once, as a good wife should have done, 



92 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

the angelic message to her husband — doubtless because 
she wished him to share in the joy of such a promise, 
and desired his help to keep all the admonitions given 
to her. She seems to have been so overjoyed at the 
announcement that she was to have a son, that she ran 
away from the man of God, hastening home from the 
field, without asking him how she was to bring up a 
child to whom so important a mission was committed. 

And surely Manoah's solicitude to have more full 
instruction from the angel was well. For the care of 
children is a very great concern. Happy would it be 
for us as a people, if all our parents, like this pious 
Danite, oftener prayed : " Teach me what we shall do 
to the child that shall be born to us." 

From Manoah and his wife let us learn the duty and 
'privilege of dedicating our little ones to God. He has 
a property in us and our households that cannot be 
destroyed. ,Nor does he ever relinquish or alienate his 
rights to our children. It is therefore our duty to 
acknowledge him in our families, and to dedicate to 
him the children he has given us. This dedication is a 
solemn covenant, as well as a sacrament. In it God 
says to us : Take these little ones and bring them up for 
me, and 1 will give thee thy wages. And we answer, 
Lord, we dedicate them to thee, imploring thy blessing 
to rest upon them. 

I. The care of children should begin before they are 
born — even before they are conceived. A celebrated 
physician says : " The first duty parents owe to their 
children is, to convey health and strength, a good con- 
stitution of body and mind to them, as far as it is in 
their power ; by a proper care of their own health, and 



CAKE FOR CHILDREN BEFORE BIRTH. 93 

a conscientious abstinence from vice and excess of every 
kind." The ancient Romans were extremely careful as 
to the health and condition of mothers. If ignorance 
as to the effect of a mother's health and state of mind 
on the constitution of her child could ever be plead as 
an excuse for entailing a host of ailments upon her pos- 
terity, it surely cannot now be offered ; for by means of 
the press and of public lecturing, the whole subject has 
been popularized — perhaps too much so. At least, igno- 
rance is no longer an excuse. And if the laws of nature 
on this subject are well understood in their application 
to the lower animals, why should they be neglected or 
despised in man ? Health of mind and body should be 
a prerequisite of marriage. And the most enlightened 
attention should be bestowed on women during their 
child-bearing. This subject deserves the most serious 
consideration from patriots, philanthropists and chris- 
tians. The civil, intellectual and moral well-being of 
our nation is and will be greatly affected by a proper 
regard to it. It is not a matter of doubt, or a point yet 
to be discussed. It is already demonstrated that many 
diseases, tempers, dispositions and habits are hereditary. 
" Many of the ill habits of body that children bring 
into the world with them are owino- to the irregularities 
of their mothers ; (and of their fathers) and most of the 
diseases of which so many young children die, arise 
from a bad mass of blood communicated to them." 
" Women with child ought conscientiously to avoid what- 
ever they have reason to think will be any way preju- 
dicial to the health or good constitution of the fruit of 
their life." — Henry. 

II. The proper idea of educating children is to fit 



94 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

them for the duties of life and the realities of a fast- 
coming eternity. To do this they must be trained. 
Training combines, Jirst, both instruction and govern- 
ment. Its field is both the mind and the body. It 
reduces to life the precepts which are to regulate them 
when they are grown. To train a child properly, is to 
form it again into the image in which man was created. 
It is to recover it from the ruins of the fall. This can- 
not be done at once. But it can be begun, and the 
completion will follow in heaven. To train a child 
requires patience, faith, courage, perseverance and divine 
assistance. 

Secondly. To bring up a child in " the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord," instruction and example are 
essential. It is the nature of a child to imitate what is 
around it. The influence of example is as certain as 
the action of the air upon its body. Influences educate 
the child long before it is large enough to be sent from 
home to school. It is in the unwritten, unspoken teach- 
ings of home in our tenderest years that our destiny 
has its beginnings. Every word, tone, look, frown, smile 
and tear, witnessed in childhood, performs its part in 
training the infant for eternity. Instruction should 
begin early, but let it be oral, and consist chiefly of a 
few moral precepts, Bible stories and chaste fables. A 
great error in our times is the pressing of the infantile 
mind ; cramming the memory with what the child does 
not understand, and at the same time so conferring and 
cramming it as to prevent the proper physical develop- 
ment, and impair the reasoning faculties. Another of 
the alarming evils of our day is the circulation of de- 
moralizing publications. Earnest warning and entrea- 



DANGERS OF BAD BOOKS. 95 

ties on this subject have often fallen from this pulpit. 
But the warning cannot be too often repeated. The 
influence of immoral prints and books is calculated more 
than anything else to corrupt the morals and enfeeble 
the intellects of the juvenile portion of our country. 
To circulate such publications is a serious offense against 
God and man ; and yet I greatly fear it is a growing 
evil ; nor do I see any corrective so available, so poten- 
tial and so practicable, as family government and in- 
struction. Let the home be for amusement, plea- 
sure, KNOWLEDGE AND RELIGION AS ATTRACTIVE AS 
POSSIBLE. 

Thirdly. In the bringing up of children, prayer, deep, 
earnest, believing prayer is essential. The preservation 
of children is a constant miracle. After all our solicitude 
and pains-taking, and watching and heart bleeding, we 
have to trust them to God. We are shut up to wrestling 
with God, as the last resort saying, peradventure they 
may live, or as Abraham himself, that Ishmael might 
live. Parental solicitude is not only justified, but 
expressly enjoined in God's word. The apostle speaks 
of it, as a great commendation of Timothy and of his 
mother and grandmother, that from his infancy he had 
been made acquainted with the Scriptures, which were 
able to make him wise unto salvation through faith in 
Christ Jesus. Train up a child, says Solomon, in the 
way in which he should go, and when he is old, he will 
not depart from it. 

He is not prepared to discharge his duties to himself, 
his country and his God, as a parent, who does not see 
and/eeZ that the art of education is both the most impor- 
tant and difficult in the world. It has been so considered 



96 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

by many of the greatest men that have ever lived. Many 
of the greatest minds and largest hearts have spent their 
wisdom and strength in advancing the education of man- 
kind in morals and religion. 

Fourthly. By Manoah's example, we are taught where 
to obtain aid and direction in bringing up our children. 
As soon as he is informed that he is to have a son, he 
falls to praying that be may know how to order the 
child — to know what he should do unto him. Verses eight 
and twelve. " When I see the strength of Manoah's 
faith, I marvel not that he had a Samson to his son ; he 
saw not the messenger, he heard not the errand, he exam- 
ined not the circumstances ; yet now he takes thought, 
not whether he should have a son, but how he shall order 
the son which he must have." — Hall. 

It is true that? we are eminently blessed with elemen- 
tary school books, and the schools of our country, espec- 
ially for young children and the acquirement of a practical 
education, are not surpassed by those of any other nation. 
But it deserves to be always kept in mind, that in educa- 
ting there is no book that can take the place of the word 
of God, and no means that can be made a substitute for 
prayer. It is the great business of a parent to secure a 
sound mind in a sound body for his child, and then to 
baptize him day by day with heavenly influences in 
answer to prayer. And surely it is of such children we 
may hope, as patriots and as followers of Christ, that 
they will be deliverers of Israel. The age of miracles is 
past. We have no right to expect angels to tell us 
what to do unto our children. We have a more sure 
word of prophecy (instruction). The divine word is 
ever speaking to us, saying this is the way, walk ye in 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAY. 97 

it. Conscience, enlightened by the divine word and 
spirit, is also constantly teaching us the way in which we 
should go. The Bible direction is to acknowledge God 
in all our ways and he will direct our steps. Manoah's 
mind was aroused by his wife's tidings ; and his faith 
was at once strong ; and being all the more encouraged 
by the favors already given, he prayed to God to teach 
him more fully what he was to do. And though secret 
things belong to God, revealed things belong to us and 
to our children. And whenever the soul bows down 
before the Father of spirits earnestly seeking to know his 
will, in some way or other, he will teach us his paths 
Psalm xxv : 8. 



" Thus at the flaming forge of life 
Our fortunes must be wrought, 
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped 
Each burning deed and thought." 



fens CJjrist in % S^D^amts* 



CHAPTER V 



JESUS CHRIST IK THE THEOPHANIES OE THE OLD TESTAMENT. 



Appeared before mine eyes 



A man of God : his habit and his guise 
Were such as holy prophets used to wear; 
But in his dreadful looks there did appear 
Something that made me tremble ; in his eye 
Mildness was mixt with awful majesty. 11 

QiutrUs" 1 Samson. 

Testamentum Vetus de Christo exhibendo, Novum de Christo exhibito agit : 
Novum in veteri latet, Vetus in novo patet. — Augustine. 

" Scriptura omnis in duo Testamenta divisa est * * Judaei Veteri 
utuntur, nos Novo : sed tamen diversa non sunt, quia Novum Veteris adim- 
pletio est, et in utroque idem Testator est Chxistus." 

Zactantius, Div. Inst, iv: 20. 

In verses eight and twenty-one, inclusive, of the thir- 
teenth chapter, we have a more detailed account of the 
appearance of the angel of the Lord, than is to be found 
in any other part of the Bible. For this reason as well 
as on account of the great intrinsic merit of the sub- 
ject, the narrative of Samson is suspended till the next 
chapter. 

Angel is rather a term of office than of nature. This 
term is used in the Bible to denote a messenger both 
human and spiritual, and also impersonal agents, as 
winds, fires, remarkable dispensations, &c. It seems to 



102 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

denote any vehicle or medium by which the Creator 
made known his presence or executed his will. There 
are evil as well as good angels, and sometimes it is 
thought, angel of the Lord means a personification of 
divine judgments. (See Bush's notes on Gen. xvi : 7 ; 
xxiv : 7 ; and Ex. iii : 2.) The most frequent applica- 
tion of this term is undoubtedly to the special manifesta- 
tion of the Lord to the patriarchs and prophets. The 
Shekinah is called the angel of the Lord. Ex. xiv : 
19. But in all such visible symbols of the divine glory, 
Jehovah himself, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 
the very same that appeared in the bush, and by whose 
good will Joseph was preserved, is to be considered as 
present. " The angel of the Lord" is literally the 
Angel-Jehovah, or Jehovah, the Sent One, and is none 
other than God manifest, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the 
Bible, God the Father is never spoken of as sent, but 
the Messiah is so represented in the Old Testament, and 
Christ is so spoken of in the New Testament, and actually 
claims himself to have come from and to be sent by the 
Father. In finding therefore that the angel of the Lord 
is Jehovah, God, the Lord himself, we shall establish 
our proposition ; that in the Theophanies of the Old 
Testament we have Jesus Christ manifested as 
God. 

And the angel of the Lord came again, (verse nine). 
This is the same angel that appeared first to the woman, 
and the same that appeared to Abraham, Lot, Moses 
Joshua, Gideon and others, and is the Messiah- Christ. 
In the eighteenth verse, " the angel of the Lord said 
unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing 
it is secret." Here the Hebrew word for secret is the 



THE ANGEL OF THE PATRIARCHS. 103 

same that Isaiah uses for wonderful. Isa. ix : 6. " And 
liis name shall be called wonderful." Hence it is 
concluded, that the true meaning of the clause, seeing it is 
secret, is, it is wonderful. The angel then means to say 
that, his name Wonderful, signified that he was the 
promised Messiah. 

In Genesis xxii : 11, the same appellation is used. 
" And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of 
heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham," and yet in the 
first verse of the same chapter it is said that it was God 
who tempted Abraham, and commanded him to sacrifice 
his son. See also verses fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, which 
clearly identify the angel of Jehovah and God as one 
and the same. And in Gen. xxiv : 7, the angel of the 
Lord is identified with God himself. The same thing 
is clear from Ex. iii : 2, 6, 10, 14; Numb, xx : 22; 
Judges ii: 5; and vi : 11-40; 2 Samuel xxiv: 16; 
2 Kings xix : 35 ; 1 Chron. xxi : 12. 

Now these Scriptures taken together prove in the first 
place, that Hagar, Abraham and Moses, believed God 
to be invisible, and yet that they had certain direct com- 
munications from him. There was either a shape or 
voice, or both — or some representation of God made to 
them visibly — some divine manifestation that came in 
some way within the reach of their senses ; and this 
representation was called the " Angel of Jehovah," " the 
angel of his presence," and was identified with Jehovah 
himself — received the worship and acknowledged the 
attributes and performed the same works which the 
Scriptures ascribe to God. 

The invisibility as well as the spirituality of the 
supreme being is explicitly taught in the Bible — in both 



104 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

the Old and the New Testaments. See Ex. xxxiii : 20 ; 
Jobix: 11; Johni: 18, and verse thirty-seven; Rev. 
i : 20 ; Col. i : 15 ; Heb. xi : 27 ; I Tim. vi : 16. And 
yet according to numerous texts of Scripture, God has 
been pleased at various times and in different places, to 
put himself in communication with mankind. He has 
caused his voice to be heard and his shape to be seen. 
In Gen. xvi : 7, we have the first distinct divine mani- 
festation revealed by name. Here the epithet is the one 
so often used in the Old Testament — angel of 'the Lord. 
And it is evident from the text that Hagar understood 
the angel of Jehovah to be Jehovah himself. For she 
called the name of the Jehovah that spake unto her, thou 
God of visibility.* These manifestations of God were 
made in a way suitable to the senses and capacities of 
man. The divine glory was of necessity veiled. And 
hence the manifestation was called " the angel of God's 
presence." That is, his messenger. So much of God- 
head was manifested as the creature could bear. And 
by this method of revealing himelf, it pleased God to 
keep open a communication with our race, until the full- 
ness of time came, when he actually manifested himself 
in the flesh. By these divine appearances the faith of 
mankind was kept alive, that in due time the promise 
should be fulfilled, and the Word should become flesh, 
and the seed of the woman bruise the serpent's head. 

And in the second place, the appellation "angel of 
the Lord," therefore, in the Old Testament is to be under- 



* Boothroyd, Le Clerc, Houbigant, Michaelis, say this is the true reading of 
the passage. In their opinion also, the name of the well is " the well of the 
invisible God." The Targum of Jonathan, the Greek, Arabic, Chaldee and 
Syriac have it thus. 



THE ANGEL IS THE MESSIAH. 105 

stood as meaning the Messiah. Such divine appearances 
were manifestly pledges of God's continued good will to 
men. They were evidences of his repeated gracious 
interpositions. They were types of the coming incarna- 
tion. In the form of " a man of God," or of an angel, 
it was Jesus Christ, that appeared to the patriarchs, as 
a pledge of his future coming into the world as the long 
promised Messiah. The angel that redeemed Jacob from 
all evil, he represents as identical with the God before 
whom his fathers had walked, and who had fed him all 
his life long. And he also makes his vows to this angel 
as the God of Bethel and the same who spoke to him 
in Padan-aram. And Hosea speaking of this angel of 
Jacob, identifies him with Jehovah. See Gen. xlviii : 
15,16; andxxxi: 11-13. Jacob's language is remark- 
able : " The angel which redeemed me from all evil," 
by which he does not mean a creature, — does not mean 
another and a different being from the God of his fathers, 
but an expletive of the name God. Is it scriptural 
usage then for God to be called by the name, Angel ? In 
Jacob's earlier life, we have an instance. He wrestled 
with an angel at the ford Jabbok till the breaking of day, 
and yet he says speaking of this angel at Peniel, " I 
have seen God face to face." In the divine revelation to 
Abraham of the doom of the cities of the plain, Jehovah 
himself, or God the Son, is clearly to be recognized in 
one of the angels. In the third chapter of Exodus, we 
have one of the most illustrious recorded appearances of 
the angel of the Lord to be found in the Bible. Here 
the angel of the Lord and God, and Jehovah are inter- 
changeable. In the second verse he who is called the 
angel of the Lord (Jehovah) appears in the bush, and 



106 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

in the fourth verse lie is called Lord (Jehovah) and 
God. And in the sixth verse, the same Angel-Jeho- 
vah who appears in the hush and is called Lord and 
God, speaking of himself says : " I am the God of thy 
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face ; for he was 
afraid to look upon God." And in verses eleven and 
twelve, Moses said unto God, addressing the angel of the 
Lord, of the first verse, who was in the bush, and in the 
fourteenth verse — " God said unto Moses, I am that I 
am ; and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children 
of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you." And in the 
next verse repeats that he is the Lord God of their 
fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Through- 
out the whole narrative and dialogue of Moses' call and 
inauguration into office as deliverer of Israel, the angel 
of the Lord is Jehovah, and in this appearance of the 
Lord God, we recognize no other personage than the 
angel of the Covenant, the angel of Jehovah's presence, 
who is Messiah-Christ. The An gel- Jehovah, who 
dwelt in the glory-cloud, and who pledged himself to 
conduct the Hebrews to the land of promise, the apostle 
tells us expressly was Christ. 1 Cor. x: 9. We have 
seen that the angel professes in the eighteenth verse that 
his name is the same, that we find Isaiah applying to the 
Messiah in ix : 6. And again in Isa. xlii : 19, the same 
term — angel — that is used in the text is given to the 
Messiah, who is also called the Angel of the Covenant. 
See Mai. hi: 1 ; Matt, xii: 18-21. Compare also Isa. 
Ix: 1; Heb. ii: 14; and Isa. xl: 3. 

There is a gradual development of truth as taught 
in the Bible. The existence of God is assumed. His 



GOD INVISIBLE REVEALED. 107 

unity and spirituality are then taught. His invisibility 
and yet palpable manifestations are asserted. Repeated 
proofs are given that Jehovah was not the mere tutelar 
God of the Hebrews. This was one of the great truths 
demonstrated by the awful controversy between Moses 
and Pharoah, which was indeed a conflict between Jeho- 
vah's prime minister and the gods of Egypt. No intelli- 
gent and attentive reader of the Bible can fail to discern 
that a distinction is made between Jehovah as invisible 
and Jehovah as manifested to men. In many parts of 
the Old Testament we find an exalted being, introduced 
as " the angel, servant, or messenger of Jehovah," who 
speaks of himself as distinct from the invisible and eter- 
nal Jehovah, and yet assumes to himself the honors, 
attributes and works of Jehovah, and" suffers himself to 
be addressed as God. Now how are we to understand 
these passages in which " the angel of God " is thus 
introduced ? 

1. Herder (Geist. Hebr. Poesie ii : 47) says this 
phrase is a mere figurative mode of announcing some 
great phenomenon. In our humble judgment this is so 
contrary to common sense, and is so entirely foreign to 
the plain meaning of the texts, > that no refutation is 
required. 

2. Some tell us this angel of the Lord was a mere 
created angel, who spoke in the name of Jehovah. This 
is the opinion of some of the fathers, as Origen and 
Jerome, and of Le Clerc and Grotius and of Socinian, 
Unitarian and Neological writers. But as Hengstenberg 
has most judiciously said, quite a satisfactory reason can 
be found for this singular confluence of opinion, in adopt- 
ing this interpretation, for each one though differing on 



108 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

almost every other point, thought that such an interpre- 
tation was favorable to his system of theological opinions, 
and was therefore at all hazards to be received as true. 
We have serious objections to this interpretation, and 
regard it as incorrect. First. Because the idiom of the 
Hebrew limits the phrase to one angel. Literally the 
phrase is, " the angel of Jehovah." This cannot be 
fairly an appellation of created angels. Secondly. The 
Bible does not teach that any creature, however high, or 
under any circumstances, should personate the Creator. 
Thirdly. In several of the passages referred to, we have 
found that " the angel of Jehovah " is called God, and 
Jehovah. Even Gesenius admits both in his Thesaurus 
and in the last edition of his Lexicon, that " the angel of 
Jehovah " is identified with Jehovah himself. " Some- 
times the same divine appearance which at one time is 
called the angel of Jehovah is afterwards called simply 
Jehovah" 

3. We know that Sack, De Wette and others of a 
like theological complexion, advocate the opinion, that 
" the angel of Jehovah " is simply a periphrasis for 
Jehovah himself, and that the phrase should be rendered, 
not the angel or messenger, but the appearance of Jeho- 
vah. We would urge as objections to this interpretation : 

First. It is by no means proved, that the true mean- 
ing of the word maleak, is sending or appearance, while 
it is not denied but that it does signify messenger, angel. 

Secondly. This interpretation destroys all significance 
in the evident diversities of the Theophanies, which seem 
to us to have been made with the direct intention of 
proving in the midst of an idolatrous age and in the face 
of polytheism, the essential unity and spirituality of God, 



DIVINITY IN THE THEOPHANIES. 109 

and yet the equality and identity of " the angel of Jeho- 
vah " with Jehovah himself. 

Thirdly. This view of the phrase does not aid us to 
any intelligent view of the distinct personalities that 
appear in the narratives of the Theophanies, nor to the 
apprehension of the use of the plural form in the name 
of God. 

Again, in the creation, and the distinct personalities 
found in the narratives of the Theophanies, and in the 
use of the phrase " spirit of God, or of the Lord," so 
often found in the Bible, it seems to us great violence 
is done to the idiom and grammatical structure of the 
Hebrew tongue, to say that we have only a periphrasis 
of God himself, or a divine attribute, but not a divine 
person. Almost all commentators agree that in the 
second verse of the third chapter of Zachariah, the incom- 
municable name of Jehovah is directly given to the angel 
of Jehovah spoken of in the first verse. Even Maurer 
and Hitzig agree to this. Rosenmuller's interpretation, 
"vocatur legatus de nomine principis sui," is directly 
contrary to scripture usage, and may well be styled " a 
pure fiction." 

4. The true interpretation of the phrase, " angel of 
the Lord," and the only one that reconciles all the pas- 
sages in which it occurs and the allusions made to it in 
the Bible, is this, namely : that the angel of Jehovah in 
the Old Testament is Jesus Christ, who as Jehovah's 
servant, messenger or angel, was manifested before the 
incarnation as a proof that his heart was on his great 
work of redeeming men, by becoming a man, and a 
pledge that he would come in the fullness of time, and 
be actually born of a woman, made under the law, to 



110 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

redeem them that were under the law. (Gal. iv: 4.) 
The angel of the Lord then in the Theophanies of the 
Old Testament was the Messiah sent from God, who 
was the Word that was God, but became flesh and 
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. 



From heaven he came, of heaven he spoke, 
Dark clouds of gloomy night he broke, 
Unveiling an immortal day. 



That our views may be the more clearly understood, 
we repeat and sum up what we believe the Bible teaches 
on this subject. 

I. There is one, only living and true God. This one 
supreme and only living and true God is alike and 
equally the God of the New Testament and of the Old 
Testament. The religion of the two great divisions of 
the Bible is one religion. The Bible is not a heteroge- 
neous or contradictory mass of old or obsolete writings, 
but a harmonious and organized whole, each part per- 
fect in its place and of its kind. 

II. The only living and true " God is a Spirit, infinite, 
eternal, unchangeable, invisible." He has condescend- 
ed, however, in times past, to speak to the fathers by the 
prophets, and by his Son Jesus Christ, and his apos- 
tles. He made known his will to the patriarchs, pro- 
phets, and apostles, by his Spirit, operating directly on 
their minds, by dreams, visions, voices, ecstacies, sym- 
bolic acts, appearances or manifestations in the form of 
an angel, or by some representation of his glory, which 
is called in the Old Testament, The Shekinah. 

TIL The leading idea of the Revelation of God in the 
Old Testament was, the coining of the Messiah. Other 



THE CENTER OF THE BTBLE. Ill 

great truths are taught or illustrated, but they are all in 
order to prepare the way for the fulfillment of this prom- 
ise. And the substance of the New Testament is a 
record of Messiah's coming, and therein of the fulfillment 
of the old Testament Scriptures. 

The great design, therefore, of the Old Testament has 
been accomplished. The Hebrew dispensation, with the 
divine oracles, prepared mankind, both negatively and 
positively, for the appearance of the Messiah, the world- 
redeeming God. The purpose of divine revelation is 
stated in the first promise in the garden of Eden, and is 
prosecuted through the whole of the old dispensation. 
The testimony of Jesus is the bond of union, and center 
in which all the Old Testament harmonizes. Without 
this purpose in view the Old Testament is but a loose, 
scattered, and badly arranged heap of poetry, history, 
morals, and memoirs. But with such a purpose revealed, 
and running through all its history, we can understand 
how it teaches, typifies, promises, and predicts a great 
salvation through the Ineffable Incarnation. 

The whole scope and end of prophecy was the testi- 
mony of Jesus. The entire history of God's revelation 
in Old Testament times, is nothing but an utterance pro- 
phetic of a coming Messiah. " And upon that revelation 
of facts, and prediction by facts, is grounded that series 
of predictions by words, which God has been pleased to 
communicate in a supernatural manner, by his special 
agents."* " In the historical, the didactic, the prophet- 
ical portions of the New Testament, we discern the Old 
Testament, the old law, living again, in a new and spir- 

* Lee on Inspiration. 



112 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

itual life ; not embalmed and laid with reverential care 
aside in the grave, but arisen from the dead, and alive 
forevermore, like its own divine Founder." 

Stephen and John, and the saints in glory, are then 
with Moses and Elias, as the apostles were with them 
on the mount of transfiguration. They all sing alike 
the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of 
the Lamb. — Rev. xv : 3. 

The Bible, as a history, testifies of Jesus. And the 
two great divisions of the Bible, the Old and New Tes- 
taments, are indissolubly connected, and of co-equal au- 
thority. Jesus Christ is the central point to which all 
the rays of revelation converge, and from which they 
again flow by the ministrations of his own Eternal 
Spirit. 

An able author of one of the Hulsean lectures, speak- 
ing of the past development of the Scriptures, holds the 
following beautiful language : " This treasure of divine 
truth, once given, has only gradually revealed itself; 
how the history of the church, the difficulties, the trials, 
the struggles, the temptations in which it has been in- 
volved, have interpreted to it its own records. * * * 
Now there was much written for it there as with sym- 
pathetic ink, invisible for a season, yet ready to flash 
out in lines and characters of light, whenever the ap- 
pointed day and hour had arrived ; so that in this way 
the Scripture has been to the church as their garments 
to the children of Israel, which, during all the years of 
their pilgrimage in the desert, waxed not old ; yea, ac- 
cording to rabbinical tradition, kept pace and measure 
with their bodies, growing with their growth, fitting the 
man as they had fitted the child, and this, until the forty 



SCRIPTURAL DEVELOPMENT. 113 

years of their sojourn in the wilderness had expired. Or 
to use another comparison, which may serve to illustrate 
our meaning : Holy Scripture, thus progressively un- 
folding what it contains, might be likened fitly to some 
magnificent landscape, on which the sun is gradually 
rising, and ever as it rises is bringing out one headland 
into light and prominence, and then another ; anon, kind- 
ling the glory-smitten summit of some far mountain, and 
presently lighting up the recesses of some near valley 
which had hitherto abided in gloom ; and so, traveling 
on, till nothing remains in shadow, no crook nor corner 
hid from the light and heat of it, but the whole prospect 
stands out in the clearness and splendor of the highest 
noon. 

" The true idea of scriptural development is this, that 
the church, informed and quickened by the Spirit of 
God, more and more discovers what in Holy Scripture 
is given her ; but it is not thus that she unfolds by an 
independent power anything further therefrom. She has 
always possessed what she now possesses of doctrine and 
truth, only not always with the same distinctness of con- 
sciousness. She has not added to her wealth, but she 
has become more and more aware of that wealth ; her 
dowry has remained always the same, but that dowry 
was so rich, and so rare, that only little by little she has 
counted over and taken stock and inventory of her jew- 
els. She has consolidated her doctrine, compelled thereto 
by the provocation of her enemies, or induced to it by 
the growing sense of her needs. She has brought to- 
gether utterances in Holy Writ, and those which, apart, 
were comparatively barren, when thus married — when 
each had thus found its complement in the other — have 



114 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

been fruitful to her. Those which, apart, meant little 
to her, have been seen to mean much when thus brought 
together, and read each by the light of the other. In 
these senses she has enlarged her dominion, her dominion 
having; become larger to her."* 

IV. It is not true, then, that the Almighty has al- 
lowed any of his dispensations to prove a failure. It 
is not true that the religion of Eden proving a failure, 
another and a new one was tried ; and then, when the 
patriarchal faith failed, the Creator again tried to meet 
the wants of our race, by patching up the patriarchal 
religion with that of Moses ; and was again obliged to 
add the teachings of the prophets ; and, finally, becom- 
ing tired of the old religion altogether, he superseded it 
by introducing Christianity. This is as false as it is blas- 
phemous. There is a perfect harmony throughout the 
Bible. Augustin has well said, " Deus opera mutat, nee 
mutat consilium." (Conf. i: 4.) In all the various 
modes used for communicating the divine will, we find 
but one and the same religion — the Pentateuch, the Pro- 
phets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles are 
given to us by one and the same Spirit of Inspiration. 
The revelation is from God, and the record of that rev- 



* See Trench's Hulsean Lecture for 1853. 

Lee on Inspiration substantially passim, but particularly p. 113. Mr. Lee 
is of Trinity College, Dublin. His work, however, is published in this countiy 
by Carters, of New York. It is an able, learned, and earnest work. With a 
little more arrangement it would be more valuable. Sabbath School teachers 
and young students may consult, also, with great advantage on this subject, 
Magee, on the Atonement; Henstenberg's Christology: Litton's Bampton 
Lectures for 1856 ; Bishop Hurd on Prophecy ; Owen on the Hebrews ; Dr. J 
Pye Smith's Test, of the Messiah; Dr. Wardlaw's Discourses on the Socinian 
Controversy ; and Dr. W. L. Alexander's Connection of the Old and New Tes- 
tament. 



THE OLD TESTAMENT NOT OBSOLETE. 115 

elation is by the inspirition of the Holy Spirit. The 
Bible not only contains the Word of God, but the 
Bible is the Word of God, who is our Maker and final 
Judge. 

Though the writers of the Bible are scattered over 
more than twenty centuries, its several books are but 
different members of one organized whole, and each 
member is perfectly adapted to the great purpose of the 
divine Author, and pointing all the time to him as the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through 
whom we have received the atonement. 

It certainly cannot follow because, as Bretschneider* 
states, and truly, that the doctrines of God and morality 
are far more perfectly taught in the New Testament, by 
Jesus Christ and his Apostles, than in the Old Testa- 
ment ; that, therefore, the old Testament is obsolete. 
This were to say that the lad were lost in the man. The 
morning and the evening are but one day. But the 
morning twilight is in order to the noon-day splendor. 
To say that the Old Testament is superfluous, and of no 
authority, in the church of God, because, in spirituality 
and higher morals, it has been surpassed by the New 
Testament, is absurd. A boy's grammar was just the 
book he wanted when he had to learn the elements of 
language. And in manhood the grammar of his youth 
is not superfluous or lost because he embodies all the 
knowledge it contained, and even more. The elements 
of language are not superfluous to the language matured. 
If the promises, types, and predictions of the Old Tes- 



* Bretsclmeider Handb. der Dog., i, § 159, quoted by Lee, on Inspiration, p. 
100. 



116 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

lament be arranged, therefore, as stars, in clusters and 
constellations, we can readily see how one arose in Eden, 
and another to Enoch, and another to Noah after the 
flood, and another to Abraham, and another and another, 
till the whole heavens became luminous, when the star 
in the East guided the wise men to the infant Redeemer 
at Bethlehem. 

V. We are now prepared, I trust, to say that " the 
Angel of the Lord," the Angel of Jehovah's presence, 
and the divine manifestations made in the Old Testament 
were foreshadowings of the great Incarnation. In them 
the Son of God declared that his delights were with the 
sons of men from all eternity, and was manifesting forth 
his glory in such measure as was proper to keep alive 
the promise of his coming, when the fullness of time 
should arrive. And in the application of the appellation 
Angel of Jehovah to the Messiah, we have a proof of the 
divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

" No man hath seen God at any time ; the only be- 
gotten Son, which is the bosom of the Father ; he hath 
declared him." " He is God manifest in the flesh." — 
John i : 18 ; 1 Tim. iii : 16. 

It is not, therefore, without reason that the learned 
are of the opinion that this ninth verse is of peculiar con- 
struction and emphasis, meaning that it was the Lord 
God himself to whom Manaoh prayed, who hearkened 
to his voice, and then appeared to him and his wife, and 
that he appeared to them in the person of his Son, 
veiled as an angel. 

VI. In all the varieties of manner in which, in times 
past, God spake unto the fathers, the Logos, the 
Word, of John i, was the Revealer. This is emphat- 



WHO IS THIS ANGEL? 117 

ically true of the revelations made by the Angel- Jeho- 
vah. In the revelation of the divine will " by facts, by 
words" and by appearances, or visible forms of the divine 
glory, of which record is made in the Old Testament, 
there is a constant reference to the Author of Creation, 
implying by such a reference the right and power to 
make all such revelations; but the most remarkable 
manifestation of the Logos, " the Word," in the Old 
Testament, if I am not greatly mistaken, is this of the 
Angel-Jehovah. 

This is the mysterious personage who appeared to 
Abraham, " the friend of God," who rejoiced in seeing 
Messiah's day. And in the various passages of script- 
ure in which the appearance of the Angel of Jehovah is 
described, we find him using the first person, and speak- 
ing, and acting, and receiving homage and worship, not 
as a distinct person from, but as the manifestation or 
visible operation of the Godhead. The Angel of the 
Lord, then, is to be understood as Jehovah-Jesus in 
his visibility. And in this manifestation of Jesus Christ 
in the Theophanies of the Old Testament, we have, in 
some degree, an explanation of how he came to be " the 
desire of all nations ; " for it is well known that heathen 
nations of old, both savage and civilized, had some no- 
tion of the incarnation of their gods, and of the neces- 
sity of such incarnation. 

If we are not mistaken, Messiah Jesus is expressly 
called an Angel, the Angel of the Lord, in the Old Tes- 
tament, and plainly so represented in the New. In ad- 
dition to the texts which represent the Logos as the 
Revealer of God, there are some that speak of the same 
personage as an Angel, the Angel. The promise to Mo- 



118 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

ses was, that on the withdrawal of the Lord himself, as 
he appeared to him at first, "my presence shall go with 
thee, and I will give thee rest." And Isaiah says, " In 
ail their afflictions he was afflicted, and the Angel of his 
presence . saved them." Ex. xxxiii: 14, and Isa. lxiii: 
9. And the Apostle says, referring to the Israelites, 
" Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempt- 
ed (him), and were destroyed of serpents." 1 Cor. x: 9. 
And again, " Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to 
keep thee in the way ; beware of him, and obey his 
voice ; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your 
transgressions; for my Name is in him." This is 
clearly a promise of a distinct divine person, who was to 
go with them. The same, doubtless, who appeared in 
the pillar cloud. This whole class of texts is explained 
still further by referring to Hebrews iii : 1 : " Wherefore, 
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider 
the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ 
Jesus." Now the etymology of the term apostle shows 
that it is identical in signification, with angel. But one 
part of the Apostle's argument in this epistle is to show 
Christ's superiority to angels ; there was, then, a reason 
why he should not use in this place the ordinary term, 
but the corresponding one. Both angel and apostle 
mean one sent. Our Lord repeatedly spoke of himself 
as one sent, or come from the Father. John iii: 16, 34; 
vi : 29 ; x : 36 ; xx : 21, and elsewhere. The apostle's ar- 
gument, and the design of the whole epistle, require that 
we understand his allusion in this place to be to the An- 
gel of Jehovah — of the divine presence spoken of in 
the Old Testament. As Christ is emphatically he whom 
God hath sent, so he says : Let us consider the Apostle 



THE ANGEL HIGH PRIEST. Ill) 

and High Priest of our profession — and we shall see 
that in Christianity we have a Messenger from God, 
who is higher than the angels of the Old Testament — 
who is the Angel-Jehovah himself. The Old Testa- 
ment saints were believers in the same Redeemer that 
Stephen saw, standing on the right hand of God. I beg 
to conclude this subject by quoting the following pas- 
sages from Dr. Mill and Prof. Olshausen. 

" The Angel of the Lord who preceded the children 
of Israel from Egypt, in the cloud and in the fire, was 
the Lord himself, (agreeably to Ex. xiii: 20, 21, and 
xiv: 19, 20 ; Numb, xx: 6, etc.,) possessor of the incom- 
municable name, Jehovah ; and that this Angel of the 
Covenant, as he is termed in Mai. iii: 1, Gen. xlviii : 15, 
16, etc., is the uncreated Word, who appeared in 
visible form to Jacob and Moses, and who was, in the 
fullness of time, incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, 
is the known undoubted faith of the church of God, and 
need not to be enlarged on here. This same uncreated 
Angel, in whom was the name of the Lord, is promised 
by the mouth of Moses." Olshausen, in one of his tracts 
on " The deeper sense of scripture," beautifully illus- 
trates the sense in which the old dispensation, the law 
and the prophets, is fulfilled in the New Testament : 
" The law, with all its ordinances, is like a grain of seed 
which includes in itself the whole law of the formation 
of the plant. Should the plant spring up, the grain of 
seed must die ; a power which would cause it to continue 
in its isolated subsistence, would be just as destructive 
as the Judaizing teachers, with whom Paul was forced 
to contend. But notwithstanding such a fact, the law of 
the germ which lives no longer, invisibly penetrates the 



120 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

entire plant ; so that in the plant's concentrated forma- 
tions, the law, renewing its youth, repeatedly presents 
itself again in the fruit. Thus the law was apparently 
dissolved by Christ, but only in order to be fulfilled in 
its spirit in every iota." 

In conclusion, 1st. Our aim in this chapter as in the 
third has been to vindicate the plan of God's revelation 
as well as the revelation itself, by showing that infinite 
wisdom has not made any mistake in the different dis- 
pensations from Adam to Christ. Our blessed Lord 
never let a hint fall from his lips that any part of the 
Old Testament was done away. On the contrary, he 
made it the basis of all his teachings, as did his apostles 
after him. And throughout his whole ministry, he rep- 
resents himself as fulfilling in his person and office, the 
scheme of divine love as revealed in the law and the 
Psalms and the prophets. The Old Testament and his 
own sayings are alike imperishable. (See Matt, xxiv : 
35 ; and Luke xxiv : 44.) He came into the world to 
fulfill all righteousness and make an end of transgression 
by offering himself a sacrifice to God, to satisfy divine 
justice, and reconcile us to God. And in doing this all 
things were fulfilled which were written in the law of 
Hoses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning 
him. He came therefore not to annihilate, or abrogate, 
but to confirm and re-institute — " to build again " — -" not 
to perpetuate the former scheme, but to extend and to 
develop it." The glorious Architect in the New Testa- 
ment brings out clearly the original design of the Old 
Testament, which had not before been so clearly seen 
The Old Testament is the basis on which the New is 
erected, and the stability and completeness of both depend 



THE GREAT RULE OF LIFE. 121 

on their connection. The Old was the shadow of good 
things to come, which gave certain assurance of the real- 
ity of the good things to come, and some idea of their 
nature, size and proportions. The New Testament is 
the embodiment and the record of those good things. 
From Genesis to Malachi we have the outline of the 
picture, and from Matthew to John the divine, we have 
its filling up and coloring. And the whole is the record 
of a great and precious salvation. The whole history 
of the Jewish people, their ritual and government, is 
one grand prophecy of the future Redeemer. The Old 
Testament is as full of the Messiah, the age of the world 
considered, as the New Testament is full of Christ. 

" Abraham, the saint, rejoiced of old 
When visions of the Loed he saw~; 
Moses, the man of God, foretold 
This great fulfiller of his law. 

The types bore witness to his name, 
Obtained their chief design, and ceased: 
The incense and the bleeding lamb, 
The ark, the altar and the priest." 

2nd. Let us then study the Old Testament as well 
as the New. " The word of God, which is contained in 
the Old and New Testament, is the only rule to direct 
us how we may glorify and enjoy him." 

Valuable helps for studying the Bible are now hap- 
pily within the reach of Sabbath school teachers and the 
heads of families. Bible dictionaries, concordances, maps 
of the holy land, Bible illustrations and oriental travels 
may be consulted with great advantage. But above all, 
let us ever pray for the illumination of the divine spirit 
on the sacred page, and let us search it with the docility 
and trustfulness of a little child. 

F 



122 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

3rd. One can hardly fail to be impressed, as we are 
studying the Bible, especially the record of patriarchal 
times, and of the appearance of the angel of the Lord, 
with the idea that we are very near to God. We seem 
to see his form among the trees of Eden, and to hear his 
voice as he calls to Abraham on Mount Moriah. The 
riven peaks of Mount Sinai seem yet to speak of his 
awful glory. It was the Lord's hand that shut Noah 
into the ark, and as an angel he talked with the patri- 
archs, and by his spirit, he dwelt in the prophets. But 
in the New Testament we are brought nearer still to 
God — to God on a throne of mercy, whence we may 
obtain forgiveness and grace for every time of need. 

4th. The lives of Old Testament worthies in such 
close communion with God breathe also a, pilgrim-like 
air. They declared plainly that they were seeking a 
better country, that is, an heavenly ; and God was not 
ashamed to be called their God, for he hath j)repared for 
them a city. See Hebrews xi. Are we then like them, 
pilgrims and strangers ? Is our home in heaven ? Our 
home is where our heart and treasures are. But as our 
life is a journey, on what road do we travel, and whither 
does it lead ? On the busy, dusty, jostling high road of 
humanity, we find many turns and many rough places, 
and many a weary hour and many a dark and heavy 
storm lowers over it. But cheer up, fellow pilgrim, many 
are on the same road with you. Many have travelled 
it before you, who are now safely arrived in glory. 
There is one who past along this same road, travelling 
in the greatness of his strength, and as he overcame, so 
does he give grace and glory to all who follow in his 
footsteps. You are every hour coming nearer to your 



OUR HOME IS HEAVEN. 123 

home, where storms will cease, and the weary will be 
forever at rest. If the night is long and dark, the morn- 
ing will only be the more joyful. If, as pilgrims, you 
endure hardships in the wilderness, the land of promise 
will be all the more pleasant because of these trials by 
the way. 

5th. How truly astonishing is the divine condescen- 
sion. The long-suffering of our God is our salvation. 
As he has been pleased to give us the sacred word, we 
are not to expect angelic visitors to teach us our duty. 
The divine word is a sufficient rule to teach us what to 
believe, and what to do, to be saved. The spirit that was 
in the prophets and apostles is promised to us. Th« 
great Messiah has come. We have seen his glory, as 
of the only begotten of the Father. And are we not, 
some of us, witnesses of his grace and truth — that he 
hath power on earth to forgive sin ? Let us ever adore 
him as our Saviour, and to him be glory forever. Amen. 



Cjre Jfamilg Snerifiee anfr Conference. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE FAMILY SACRIFICE AND CONFERENCE. 



In his face 



Terror and sweetness labored for the place : 
Sometimes his sun-bright eyes would shine so fierce 
As if their pointed beams would even pierce 
The soul, and strike the amaz'd beholder dead; 
Sometimes their glory would disperse and spread 
More easy flame, and like the star that stood 
O'er Bethrem, promise and portend some good; 
Mixt was his bright aspect, as if his breath 
Had equal errands both of life and death ; 
Glory and mildness seemed to contend 
In his fair eyes." — Quarles. 



In Judges xiii : 10, 11, the angel is called a man. In 
doing so the writer follows the woman, and both speak 
of him, as he appeared to them. He is called a man, 
not as expressive of his true character, but as he appeared 
to them. As soon as the angel appeared the second 
time to the woman, she respectfully entreated that he 
would wait till she could go and fetch her husband. And 
having obtained assurance that he would tarry, she runs 
for Manoah. The pious of those days were familiar 
with angelic visitors, who appeared in the form and usual 
dress of prophets or men of God. Sometimes they were 
distinguished by a peculiar majesty and sublimity of 



128 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

appearance. Pictures of angels still represent them with 
glory around their head. It is only in the emblematic 
descriptions of them, that they are said to have wings. 
It is a mistake to represent this an gel with wings and 
in a white robe, as all the pictures do that I have ever 
seen. In our engraving of Manoah's sacrifice the artist 
has given us a spirited picture which has the merit of 
exact conformity to the text. 

In verses twelve and fourteen, Manoah responds amen 
to all the angel says. As if he had said, let all you have 
promised to my wife come to pass. I believe. But how 
shall we order the child, and how shall tve do unto him, 
— Hebrew, what shall be the rule (Mishpot) by which 
we shall govern and teach him ? In the fifteenth and 
twenty-first verses, inclusive, we have the conference of 
the angel with Manoah and his wife, and their sacrifice, 
and the angel's ascent into heaven. 

Bread, in the sixteenth verse, is to be taken as it is 
often in the Bible, for food in general. (2 Kings vi : 22, 
23 ; Math, vi : 11.) It is not easy to see the connection 
of this verse, if we suppose that all the conversation is 
recorded. If all is written that passed between them, 
then this verse seems to be an answer to what was in 
Manoah's mind, rather than a reply to anything he had 
actually said. The same thing is found in the New 
Testament. Our Lord several times replies to what 
was in the minds of his hearers, rather than to any objec- 
tion stated, or question really put, so far as the record 
goes. 

The angel does not deny that he was a man, nor does 
he deny that he was God. He speaks to Manoah in the 
character that he knew Manoah understood him to be, 



WORSHIP GOD ONLY. 129 

and reminds him that sacrifices must be offered to Jeho- 
vah only. Just as when our Lord said in reply to one 
who addressed him as " good Master," Why callest thou 
me good, there is none good but one, that is God. He 
did not deny that he was God, or affirm that he was not 
himself good, the supreme goodness. He meant to say, 
so supreme in goodness is God, that comparatively it is 
not proper to say that any one else is good ; and besides, 
if I am really what you say I am, then why do you not 
receive my testimony ? In all such places, the answer 
is obviously made according to the state of the mind of 
the person addressed, and not intended to express the 
truth as known to the speaker. The angel replies there- 
fore to Manoah according to the light Manoah had. He 
does not forbid him to sacrifice, nor does he tell him he 
must not sacrifice to him. He does remind him, how- 
ever, that if he offered sacrifice, it must be to God. As 
though he had said to him, be careful that your sacrifice 
be in sincerity and truth, and in just the way that God 
has appointed ; otherwise it will not be acceptable in his 
sight. The angel says, I have no need of this food. And 
if you are going to offer a sacrifice, offer it to Jehovah 
only. There is then no angel worship here. The 
Hebrew of a kid for thee, more literally is, a kid before 
thee. Manoah may have intended a mere act of hospi- 
tality first, and that then they would unite together in 
worship, and offer up a part of it as a burnt offering. 
Manoah may have remembered how Abraham offered 
to render worship before an angel, and have desired to 
imitate him. And yet he was in doubt, if indeed he 
had any suspicion of the angelic character of his visitor. 
He did not yet know that he was an angel of the Lord. 



130 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

And besides, if lie had intended to worship an angel, he 
did not do so. The apostle John, and the prophet 
Daniel also, we remember, were prevented from render- 
ing homage to angels. 

The objection that Manoah was not a priest, and 
therefore had no right to offer sacrifice, belongs to that 
obsolete idea, that almighty grace is straightened, and 
can flow only in one narrow channel. He who made 
Melchizedek a priest and king, could make Manoah a 
priest. The command or permission of the angel was 
sufficient authority, and the acceptance of the offering is 
proof that it was rightly clone. Christ Jesus himself is 
a priest not after the Aaronic model. He came not of 
the tribe of Levi. And yet he is exalted above all law- 
givers, priests and angels, and set down at the right hand 
of God, a Prince and a Saviour and a Priest to appear 
in the presence of God for us. 

What is thy name ? In Hebrew, who is thy name ? 
In the Bible, name is sometimes equivalent to nature, 
essence and glory. Is Manoah rebuked here for unhal- 
lowed curiosity? I do not see wherein he was guilty. 
There is nothing intended to be improper, impertinent, 
or irreverent in his manner or language. Nor does it 
appear that he had been told before, or could have 
learned in any way, that the name of the visitor was 
not to be known, but was secret, wonderful, ineffable. 
The same Hebrew word here translated secretin rendered 
wonderful as has been already stated in Isaiah ix : 6 ; 
where it is most unquestionably applied to the Messiah, 
who is Christ. The idea expressed here is one of 
wonder at superhuman works, or on beholding miracu- 
lous interpositions. And Manoah and his wife looked 



THE ANGEL DOING WONDROUSLY. 131 

on in astonishment, as the angel did wondrously. Bush's 
paraphrase is to the point : " You have scarcely any real 
occasion to inquire as to my name, (nature) ; it is obvi- 
ous from the words, promises, and actions already wit- 
nessed and yet further to be displayed, that I am, and 
am therefore to be called Pelt, the admirable one, the 
great worker of wonders, the master of miracles. The 
original has the form of a proper name, but the force of 
an appellative." May not the angel have wished to 
convey to their mind that he was the angel promised in 
Ex. xxiii : 20, 21 ? Have we here anything more than an 
epitome of the conversation held between the angel and 
Manoah and his wife ? For the true character of this 
angel, see the preceding chapter. 

The meat-offering, in the nineteenth verse, is not a 
happy translation. It should be a " flour-offering," such 
as the law prescribed. And offered it upon a rock, just 
as Gideon did. The stone table is still shown at Naza- 
reth, said to have been used by our Lord. Detached 
rocks of the proper size for a table or an altar abound 
throughout the country. Mounds of earth or stones 
were used as altars in the earliest times. And while 
Manoah and his wife were offering their sacrifice unto 
the Lord, the angel did wondrously. Angel is not in the 
original, but it is rightly supplied. There is no doubt of 
the meaning. It was the angel that did wondrously. 
The Hebrew for wondrously is the same word trans- 
lated secret in the preceding verse. The angel therefore 
acted according to his name. Being wonderful in his 
nature, it was natural for him to perform wonderful 
things. What the wonders were, we are not told. Prob- 
ably among the things which he did was to manifest more 



132 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

of his divine glory, and to cause fire to fall from heaven 
as on Abraham's sacrifice, and Elijah's ; or to come out 
of the rock, as the angel did who appeared to Gideon, 
to consume the offering. As the smoke of the sacrifice 
went up toward heaven, the angel ascended in the flames, 
as if they were his chariot. And now Manoah's con- 
viction is perfect. His mind no doubt had been gradually 
opening to the truth. But now he knew that he was an 
angel of the Lord. See our engraving. 

And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, 
hecause we have seen God. Verses twenty-two and 
twenty-three. 

1. Here is a domestic conference, in which the wife 
is the best counselor. A common notion prevailed 
among the ancient Jews that it was death to see the face 
of God, or of an unveiled angel. Manoah's fears were 
probably excited by this prevailing notion. He may 
indeed have had in his mind what the Lord said to 
Moses, when he entreated to see his glory : " Thou canst 
not see my face ; for there shall no man see me and 
live." Jacob also speaks of his wrestling with the angel, 
and of his having seen God face to face, and yet his life 
was preserved as something wonderful. Gen. xxxii : 
29, 30. Manoah's apprehensions then were not wholly 
groundless, yet we cannot but admire the faith and com- 
posure of his wife. 

2. Manoah's alarm was true to fallen humanity. 
Guilt is always suspicious. Adam and Eve were afraid 
and hid themselves when they heard the voice of the 
Lord God in the garden. So Manoah and his wife, 
instead of looking up to heaven thankfully, fell down 
upon the earth half dead with fear. It is our infirmity 



god's surpassing mercies. 133 

to pervert divine blessings into omens of evil. Our eyes 
are so weak that we are confounded with what should 
comfort us. We are prone to find death in the vision 
that God gives us announcing life. We write bitter 
things, while God writes unspeakably precious promises. 
The limits of grace and goodness are made by ourselves, 
and not by our heavenly Father. He is infinitely better 
to us than our own hearts. His mercies surpass our 
largest hopes. The gospel offer is made to us in per- 
fect good faith. Salvation is always of the Lord. And 
damnation is always the sinner's own work. The guilt 
of perdition rests on the sinner's own head. God is a 
sovereign. Grace is sufficient, and the sinner is free. 

3. The wife's reply, verse twenty-three, is nobly put 
and ably applied. Her reasoning is remarkably correct. 
Her theology is as sound as if she had been educated by 
the Synod of Dort, or by the Westminster Assembly of 
Divines. It is precisely the style of reasoning David 
adopted when he was in trouble. He often calls upon 
his soul to hope in God for the future, by remembering 
the divine goodness in times past. Moses used the same 
plea for an extension of divine forbearance and patience 
towards the rebellious Israelites. And Paul used the 
same train of argument to prove the final and complete' 
triumph of a believer. " God commendeth his love 
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died 
for us. Much more then, being now justified by his 
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For 
if when we were sinners, we were reconciled to God by 
the death of his Son ; much more, being reconciled, we 
shall be saved by his life." Horn, v : 8-10. 

But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased 



134 THE GIANT JUDGE, 

to hill us he would not have received a burnt offering and 
a meat offering at our hands. This the husband in his 
panic seems to have forgotten. But the wife continues 
to remind him how the Lord had showed them also all 
things concerning the birth and education of their son, 
and had told them of the great commission he was to 
execute as Israel's deliverer. Hence she concluded it 
could not be that they were to die. The accomplish- 
ment of the promise implies that the Lord would not 
kill them. If the Lord were pleased to kill us now, he 
would not have shown us such things as these at this 
time. 

It is a safe method for us to follow — to plead God's 
past mercies as a ground of hope for the future. His 
rule is grace upon grace. He that has, receives more. 
It is not irreverent to say that he who gave his Son for 
us, will with him give us all things. Is it then reason- 
able to fear that he who has preserved us forty years will 
fail us for the next twenty, if our pilgrimage should con- 
tinue so long ? He who made you, aged friend, and 
gave his Son to redeem you, will not suffer you to perish 
for the want of meaner things. And the feeling of your 
need of his grace, is a proof that he is waiting to be 
gracious. Even the anxious inquiry after salvation 
proves that the work is already begun. Penitential 
pangs are not natural, but gracious, and argue that God 
has laid his hand upon us. And he is a rock. All his 
works are perfect. He will not leave his work of grace 
half finished. Nor would he have told us such things 
of his love and grace — he would not have manifested 
such unwillingness to destroy the impenitent, as we find 
in the Scriptures, nor have exercised such long-suffering 



DIVINE SINCERITY. 135 

and patience as we see in history and in the events of 
every day life, if he did not offer pardon and eternal 
life to us in perfect good faith on the terms propounded 
in the gospel. And surely the argument from past 
experience should be a satisfactory one. Experience 
worketh hope, and hope maketh not ashamed. Romans 
v : 4, 5. Is it not an impeachment of the divine sin- 
cerity, to fear that if God begins a good work, he will 
not complete it ? If he has preserved us so long — borne 
with our waywardness and pardoned our transgressions, 
may we not trust him, for time to come ? May we not 
trust in the loving-kindness of him who so loved us as to 
give his Son to redeem us ? It cannot be that supreme 
benevolence tantalizes us — keeps us as the Philistines 
did Samson to make sport of us on some great occasion. 
If so, why has he ever opened our hearts to our need of 
salvation ? Why • do we feel our guilt and desire to 
escape from the wrath to come ? Surely he would not 
have shoived us all these things, nor woidd he at this time 
have told us such things as these, if the Lord were 
pleased to kill us. Surely he would not have announced 
to us the glad tidings of the gospel — would not have 
made to us such full and free offers of mercy, if he were 
not pleased to accept us. Surely there is honesty in 
the declaration : It is a faithful saying, and worthy of 
all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to 
save sinners — even the chief of sinners. God's accept- 
ance of the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ, is a pos- 
itive proof that his merits and mediation are available 
for us. According to the Scriptures, Christ died for our 
sins and rose again for our justification, and now appears 
in the presence of God for us as our High Priest and 



136 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

ever-living Intercessor. Paul, in all his epistles, but 
especially in the epistle to the Hebrews, insists upon the 
fact that Christ is now seated at the right hand of the 
throne of God, as conclusive that he is superior to Moses 
and Aaron and all the angels. And the evidence more- 
over of his acceptance at the right hand of God is ren- 
dered complete by the coming of the Holy Spirit to take 
of the things which are his, and show them unto us — con- 
vincing the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. 
And since God has not withheld from us his only Son, 
but hath commended his love to us, in that he gave his 
Son to die for us, while we were yet his enemies ; how 
much more will he not give us all things on account of 
the gift of his Son ? Wherefore we beseech you in 
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God ; for he hath 
made him to be sm — a sin-offering — for us, though he 
knew no sin, that we might be made, the righteousness 
of God in him. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might 
sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without 
the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without 
the camp, bearing his reproach. Heb. xiii : 12, 13. 



Cjrt fife of % IN Itpn, 



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CHAPTER VII. 



THE LIFE OF THE HERO BEGUN. 

There are tones that will haunt us, though lonely 

Our path he o'er mountain or sea ; 
There are looks that will part from us only 

When memory ceases to he ; 
There are hopes which our hurden can lighten, 

Though toilsome and steep be the way; 
And dreams that, like moonlight, can brighten 

With a light that is clearer than day. ' ' 



And the woman bare a son, and called his name Sam- 
son. The original is Shimshon, from the root Shamash, 
to serve. The Hebrew for sun, Shemesh, is probably 
from the same root, and means a little servant, that is, a 
little sun. But why did they call him Shimshon (Sam- 
son) ? What relation had he to the sun ? Schmid and 
others say his parents so called him in allusion to the 
shining of the angel's face, like the sun, when he first 
appeared to his mother. Others, and more properly, say, 
because of the resplendent brightness that surrounded the 
angel as he ascended out of their sight, after the sacri- 
fice. Some assume that maternal fondness selected this 
name as a proper one for an only son. As there is but 
one sun, so she would have but one Samson. By what- 
ever process his parents arrived at the name, whether 



140 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

by the etymology, or derivation, hinted at, or by some 
other, they no doubt intended the name of their child to 
be expressive of their gratitude, and a proof of their 
pious acknowledgment of the divine favor shown them. 

Samson's history, like that of Esau and Ishmael, be- 
gins before his birth, and like that of Moses, Samuel, and 
Solomon, is recorded from his birth. Like Jeremiah, 
he was set apart to a great work from his mother's womb. 
There seems, however, to have been nothing extraordi- 
nary in the manner of his birth. The child is always 
father to the man ; but in some this is more apparent 
than in others. It was so with Samson. " The presa- 
ges of the womb and the cradle are commonly answered 
in the life ; it is not the use of God to cast away strange 
beginnings." — Hall. 

The record of his childhood and early youth, which is 
also true of many of the world's great men, is scant. He 
grew, and the Lord blessed him. That is, such divine 
blessings rested on him that it was plainly to be seen he 
was under God's peculiar protection. We cannot help 
feeling, however, some desire to know more of his boy- 
hood, that we might see how the child was father to the 
man. The man was most extraordinary ; how was the 
boy? Did his companions, in the streets of Zorah, 
nameless and unknown, see anything in the long-haired 
boy that predicted he was to be the lion-killer, and the 
slayer of the lords of the Philistines ? 

And the Lord blessed him — caused him to grow in 
stature and strength. External providences favored him, 
and he was under internal divine influences. 

" And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at 
times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol." 



THE SPIRIT'S FIRST MOVING. 141 

That is, while he was yet young — yet at home with his 
parents, and subject unto them, the Spirit of God moved 
on his heart, causing him to feel the humiliation of his 
countrymen, the hatefulness of their subjection to such 
a people as the Philistines, and exciting in him strong 
desires to do something for their deliverance. From his 
tenderest years God began to prepare him for the work 
to which he was called. It was a great honor to have 
something to do, and a great mercy to be prepared to do 
it. The divine influence on him, I apprehend, was both 
gracious and miraculous. True, the power to work mir- 
acles, and the gift of prophecy, were not always and nec- 
essarily connected with an experience of grace. They 
ought, indeed, always to have been found united ; but 
historically we know they were not. Nor are eminent 
gifts and attainments now always found in connection 
with personal piety. When the Spirit of the Lord 
moved the child Samson, I suppose we are to under- 
stand that he was regenerated, and that such ideas 
were put into his youthful mind, and such strength 
imparted to his growing frame, as God saw would best 
fit him for his future work. And it is just so still. It 
is as true now as it ever was, that God renews the heart 
by his Spirit, and providence prepares us for the work 
to which he calls us in this world. The Holy Spirit 
that moved the patriarchs, and prophets, and judges, 
in days of old, is not another Holy Spirit, but the same, 
the very same that came down on the day of Pentecost, 
and that opened the heart of Lydia, at Philippi, and 
dwelt in Paul and in John the divine. Regeneration is 
always an act of omnipotence. True holiness is never 
produced in us but by the Spirit of God. The only dif- 



142 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

ference between the moving of the Spirit of God upon 
the heart of a child now, and among us, and upon Sam- 
son, lies in the bearing that it had in his case upon his 
mission as a judge and an avenger of his people. The 
Holy Spirit was bestowed in an extraordinary measure 
in Old Testament times, upon those persons whom the 
Lord had chosen to perform great deeds for the deliver- 
ance of his people. 

The original for began to move him at times, is peculiar. 
According to Diodati, it means, to inspire magnani- 
mous thoughts into him, and give him a miraculous 
strength of body and courage, and to incite him to do 
great and more than human acts. The radical word 
means an anvil, and the metaphor seems to be drawn 
from the repeated and somewhat violent shocks of the 
smith's hammer. Thus did the Spirit of the Lord stir 
up Samson. His call was clear, repeated, and urgent. 

The twenty-fifth verse seems to say that a camp was 
formed between Zorah and Eshtaol, to give some check 
to the Philistines ; and when the Hebrews went out for 
drill, or to make a demonstration against the enemy, 
young Samson went out with them, and by various man- 
ifestations of strength and courage, gave intimations of 
what he would do when he should become of age. This 
was the bright sunny morning of our hero judge. Alas ! 
that it was so short. He grew, and the Spirit of the Lord 
began to move him, inspiring him with the purpose and 
preparing him for the deliverance of his people. The 
sequel discloses, however, the painful fact that Samson 
did not meet the possibilities of his destiny. His char- 
acter was not equal to his gifts. His history is a riddle, 
the unravelling of which is a warning of great signifi- 



YOUNG MEN ADMONISHED. 143 

cnnce to young men, especially to such as have had 
pious parents, and begun life with high religious hopes. 
His name is a miracle and a by-word — a glory and a 
shame — proclaiming divine sovereignty and mercy, and 
at the same time the awful severity of divine goodness. 

As Samson's manhood is not such as his youth prom- 
ised, let no child of pious parents push away this history, 
and say, I shall never disappoint my parents. Do we 
not read of one who, with quite as much indignation as 
it is prudent for any young man to express, said, in ref- 
erence to a wicked thing, Is thy servant a dog that he 
should do this thing ? and yet he did do that thing. 
Your baptismal covenant, young man, can hardly bind 
you more strictly than Samson's circumcision and Naza- 
ritish vows bound him. Nor have you any right to con- 
clude that the gracious movements of God's Spirit will 
be more effectual and persistent in you than they were 
in him. It is true, you may have had advantages which 
he had not — and yet it is equally true that many young 
people, brought up as piously as yourselves, have for- 
gotten their Bibles, and forsaken the house of God, and 
made shipwreck of the faith and hope of their parents. 

It is painfully true that some of the children of great 
promise, and high hopes, have turned out very badly. 
Their sun has gone down into the night of sorrow and 
death while yet it was high noon ; nor have they fallen 
alone. They have crushed the hearts of their parents, 
and brought their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. 
Let the biography of this extraordinary man, then, be a 
warning to all the young, of the terrific whirlpools, and 
sunken rocks, on which so many adventurers have made 
shipwreck for time and eternity. 



144 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

The principles taught in the foregoing remarks, and 
suggested by the early training of our giant judge, are 
of universal importance ; but especially so in a new coun- 
try, and in the infancy of a State. A great teaching 
philosopher of antiquity* asserts, and correctly, too, that 
he who is about to be a good man in anything whatever, 
ought immediately, from childhood, to practice, when 
engaged in playful and serious pursuits, the very things 
suited to the particular object he has in view. Plato's 
idea is, that he who is about to make himself a good 
farmer, should have playthings that teach him about the 
tilling of the ground. And he that is to be a house- 
builder, should play at building children's houses. And 
his parents or guardian should provide him with the im- 
plements, as toys that should teach him familiarity with 
the future employment of the tools belonging to the art 
he is to pursue. The teacher of children should endeav- 
or to make the plays and pleasures of the child intro- 
ductory to his future life. If a boy is to be a soldier, 
he should be taught to walk, ride, endure fatigue, and 
the like things in his sports. The child should be taught 
what he is to do when he is a man. This princi- 
ple is generally acknowledged, and yet among nominal 
christians nothing is more apparent than the neglect of 
children at home. It is not merely the neglect of fam- 
ily religion that I deplore, but of all proper family nur- 
ture and admonition. I am thoroughly persuaded that 
a very large proportion of the lawlessness, iniquity, and 
corruption of the times may be traced to the want of 
subordination and instruction in our families. The hope 

* Plato, the Laws, book i. 



EARLIEST LESSONS MOST DISTINCT. 145 

of the state and of the church is of necessity centered 
in the young. It is a most imperative duty, then, to 
bring them up in the way they should go. In wisdom 
the Creator has arranged that the family should be the 
first and greatest of all educational agencies. The home, 
and then the school room, and the house of worship, are 
instrumentalities that make us what we are. The home 
is first and most important ; there is the root that feeds 
the life ; there the precious metal is first moulded into 
shape which may afterwards be rasped and polished, but 
not recast. There lines may be traced on a yielding and 
pliable nature, that become as enduring as if sculptured 
on stone. The lessons of our earliest home are wrought 
into the structure of the mind, and give to it shape and 
coloring more or less indestructible. The mind of the 
little one, in the mother's arms, is like a daguerreotype 
plate, that receives whatever image is first cast upon it. 
No subsequent impressions can ever be so distinct. And 
so susceptible is the tender mind, that it is ever taking 
impressions. In the granite rocks we find preserved 
from ages so long past that we cannot name their date, 
impressions of the tiniest leaves of the forest. So it is 
often the case that words uttered carelessly sink into the 
soul, and may be traced upon its every fibre forever 
afterwards, as if written with a pen of iron, and the point 
of a diamond. A breath covers the frosted window with 
an icy film, and a word, or a cruel suspicion, or a wicked 
gesture or picture, may forever crust the mirror of a 
young heart. But not only is the young heart peculi- 
arly susceptible of impressions, but it is, alas ! prone to 
evil rather than good. This is true of all men until they 
are taught of God. But in the young there is a pecu- 

G 



146 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

liar aptitude to receive good impressions. Evil habits 
are not then formed ; the passions are not then glowing 
like a furnace ; evil associations have not then preoccu- 
pied the affections. This is the time to* open the heart 
to truth, and turn it to God. These opportunities are 
beyond all price. Hear the lesson, parents and Sunday 
school teachers. 

All history, all analogy, and all experience prove that 
institutions alone cannot keep a people free. It is in 
the intelligence, social morality, and religious spirit of 
the people that lies the hope of our continuing to have 
a free and salutary form of government. It is as plain 
and true as that there is a sun in the heavens, pouring 
his light upon our fields and mountains, and ripening our 
fruits and harvest, that our rapid growth and great pros- 
perity are to be ascribed to moral causes — our religious- 
ness of character, and our free and wisely constructed 
institutions. Whenever we lose our social ethics and 
religious spirit, we shall find the days of the Republic 
numbered, and the reign of corruption, anarchy, and, 
tyranny commenced. 

Family Training is a theme that cannot be exhaust- 
ed. Even when nothing new is elicited in urging its 
importance, it is well to bring old truths again and again 
before the public. As in building the pyramids, stone 
was laid upon stone, and course upon course, until the 
huge pile arose, and then it was finished from the top 
downwards ; so at home and in earliest years the work 
of education is begun. And long afterwards, by line 
upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and 
there a little, the mind is developed, and the moral 
character formed. The importance of proper training 



YOUNG MEN OUR GOVERNORS. 147 

at home, and in earliest years, is greatly enhanced 
among us by the fact that our country is in a great 
measure governed by young men, and that our young 
men leave home early ; and yet almost all the education 
many of them receive is obtained at home and from 
the primary school. And when they leave home they 
are exposed to many dangers : they are not only from 
home, but many of them are without proper female 
society ; they are in the season of the passions ; they are 
ambitious of fame and wealth. It is vastly important, * 
therefore, that they be well established in right moral 
principles. How else can we expect them to resist the 
fascinations of vice, or escape the corruption of a 
weakened moral sense, from the infidelity that prevails 
around them ? Much has been done by our schools, 
Lyceums, lecturings, libraries, and pulpit erForts, for the 
young, but we are not satisfied. The results attained 
are not commensurate with our hopes, nor with the ur- 
gencies of the case. Grime is still on the increase. The 
present course of a very large number of our youth — 
I dare not .say how large *a proportion — is not hopeful. 
The future of American youth, physically, mentally, and 
socially, is not hopeful. The prospect is one of dimin- 
ished stature and strength. The hastening to be rich, 
the excess, and extravagance, and dissipation of the pres- 
ent generation are likely to entail feebleness and luxury on 
that which is to come ; nor is this true only of those who 
have had vicious parents. The ranks of such are every 
day increasing from the thresholds of piety. Are there 
not now among the profane many that were brought up 
in the homes of industry and prayer ? We do not read 
aright if violence and forgery, intemperance and lewd- 



148 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

ness, profane and obscene language, robberies, murders, 
divorces, and suicides, have not become so common as 
hardly to awaken our surprise. The society of our day 
is diseased — it is corrupt — it is rotten — it is " a shame 
and a lie." A fearful malady is at work, and sad con- 
sequences are to be apprehended. Thinking men, earn- 
est minded, large hearted men are sad, and some are even 
despairing. How is it that so much parental love and 
care, anxiety and toil, produce no more fruits ? In the 
next generation who are to be our successful merchants, 
our legislators, statesmen, and learned and great men ? 
If the morning of life is neglected, if the young are 
physically debilitated, and morally depraved, and their 
minds dark and ignorant, how can we avoid a rapid 
movement on the downward road ? 

To have any fears on such a subject is painful to a 
well disposed mind. It fills us with horror to think of 
the calamities that are, sooner or later, measured out to 
corrupt communities by a retributive providence. As 
parents and patriots, and much more as christians, we 
should consider the dangerous tendencies of excessive 
devotion to money making and'sensual delights. If pa- 
rents are devoted to an increase of stocks and dividends, 
so as to neglect the mind and social affections — if their 
ambition is to occupy a palatial residence, keep a superb 
equipage, and deck their daughters in the stiffest crino- 
lines, richest furs, and most costly silks, and have their 
sons drive the fastest horses, and drink the most costly 
wines — then what will their grandchildren be, if they 
have any ? Will not the spirit of the fathers become 
stronger and more sordid, and more injurious as it 
descends to the children ? What, then, can be done ? 



THE SUNDAY SCHOOL'S PLACE. 149 

1st. Why, a more healthy, vigorous hind of literature 
can be 'put into the hands of the young. In popularizing 
science, our school systems are almost emasculated. Our 
children are fed on namby pamby stuff, when they should 
have honest hard bread and sound meat. 

In making a royal road to scholarship easy, we have 
denied them the gymnastics of the mind, and too many 
of them have stumbled over the ass' bridge, or are stand- 
ing still upon it. The Peter Parley literature of our 
schools should be exiled to the islands of the southern 
Pacific. 

2dly. Our children should be taught everywhere and 
always, that knowledge, mental power, discipline of 
thought, and not a mere parrot recital at an examination, 
is the thing to be gained by going to school. Dr. John- 
son said that it was a great thing gained when a child 
knew there was such a place as Kamschatka. All 
knowledge tends to profit. 

3dly. Family government and training must be re- 
sumed. One of the sources of the evils of the times is 
in the relaxed state of family government. 

As the common schools and Sabbath schools have 
prevailed, and have been made to take the place of 
family teachings, so the influence of parents has dimin- 
ished. Now if the common schools and Sunday schools 
are made substitutes for family government, then it were 
a misfortune that they have ever been established. It 
is not their vocation to take the child altogether from 
parental training. Their true place is auxiliary to the 
parent. They are to help the parent, but not to super- 
sede him, or in the smallest degree weaken his influence. 

4thly. In the family training of children there must 



150 - THE GIANT JUDGE. 

be a more earnest simple inculcation of moral precepts. 
In becoming enlightened and liberal, we must distinguish 
between a proper regard for religious truth and absolute 
indifference. The religious principles of the families of 
a nation give character to its morals and mental activi- 
ties. All the blessings of civilized life may be traced to 
our private dwellings — to our homes and to our mothers. 
The corner stones of our churches and of the state are 
our hearthstones, guarded by lawfully wedded forms of 
conjugal love. " Let our temples," says one, " crumble, 
and our academies decay ; let every public edifice, our 
halls of justice, and our capitals of state, be levelled with 
the dust, but spare our homes. Let no socialist invade 
them with his wild plans of community. Man did not 
invent, and he cannot improve or abrogate them. A pri- 
vate shelter to cover in two hearts dearer to each other 
than all in the world ; high walls, to exclude the profane 
eyes of human beings ; seclusion enough for children to 
feel that mother is a holy and a peculiar name ■ — this is 
home ; and here is the birth place of every virtuous 
impulse, and every sacred thought. Here the church 
and the state must come for their origin and their sup- 
port. Oh, spare our homes ! " 

Yes, our homes must be cherished as the most sacred 
spots we have on earth. Here we may teach our chil- 
dren how to regain ten thousand little Edens, by inspiring 
them with a love for the beauties of nature and of art, 
and with love to mankind and their blessed Creator. I 
should have been an atheist, said John Randolph, but for 
the recollection that my mother used to take my little 
hands in hers, and cause me to say, on her knees, " Our 
Father which art in heaven." But to make home the 



HOME THE SEAT OF LOVE. 151 

• 

fountain of such influences, it must be truly the seat of 
the affections. Some parents seem to move among their 
tender olive plants with so much haughty dignity, and 
cold precision, that they remind me of the lofty and 
cragged peaks of the icebergs that are sometimes found 
floating among the island gardens of the tropics. Their 
presence is always known by the chilliness of the air. 
I am persuaded it were better to put out our children's 
eyes than to crush their affections in the nursery. It 
were better that a whole family were carried off by the 
plague, than that it should live without a heart. Rather 
let the young heart burst out in glee, and song, and sym- 
pathy. Teach the little one to hate only " sin, dirt, and 
the devil," and to love everything beautiful and good. 
Let the warm emotions of the little heir to immortality 
gush out for the cow that gives him milk, and for the 
dog that guards his father's door, and allows his tiny 
fingers to pinch his ears, and gouge his eyes. Teach 
your children to hate vice, and to love the robin and the 
rose, their country and their God, and then you may 
commit the government to their shoulders. And let the 
young prize the principles of their pious parents, and 
heed their solemn warnings against the fascinations of 
vice. 

" Prize them, brother, 'twill not last forever, 

And, once escaped, it will return — never! 
It is the morning : work while lasts its light; 
Ye cannot toil so cheerily at night. 
It is the time of sowing; let the seed 
Produce the harvest that your soul will need. 
And it is the planting time ; be sure the root 
Be such as bears the most delicious fruit." 



iamsrafs Jfirst f abe antr % 1 xaxt jfiglji 



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,* 



CHAPTER VIII. 



SAMSON'S FIRST LOYE AND THE LION-EIGHT. 

" Yet truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder 
"Why thou should'st wed Philistian women rather 
Than of thine own tribe ; fairer, or as fair, 
At least of thy own nation, and as noble." 

Samson. 

In the last chapter we had a glance at the early piety 
of the great Israelite. The spirit of God was upon him 
in the camp of his countrymen near his native city. His 
religion, however, does not seem to have flourished long. 
His journeys to Timnath, though marked with deeds of 
miraculous strength are the beginnings of his trouble. 

The fourteenth chapter tells us how he went down to 
Timnath, and fell in love with a Philistine damsel. Tim- 
nath was near the sea side, hence the expression went 
down. Though this city belonged to his own tribe, it was 
at this time in the hands of the Philistines. It had once 
belonged to Judah, but had been transferred to Dan. It 
was some fifteen miles north-east of Eshtaol, and twenty 
west from Jerusalem. Its possession now by the Phil- 
istines was a reproach to the Israelites. Either they 
had not driven them out originally as they should have 
done in the time of the conquest under Joshua and Caleb, 



156 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

or the Philistines had returned and re-occupied it. How- 
ever this may have been, there was at this time free 
intercourse between the Philistines and the Hebrews. 
The population was probably mixed, but the Hebrews 
were under tribute to the Philistines. 

In considering Samson's choice of a wife we are con- 
scious of a feeling of painful disappointment. "We had 
a right to expect Manoatis son would have made a bet- 
ter selection. In choosing a Philistine we begin to see 
his lower nature acting the tyrant. But it were well if 
domestic history in modern times did not present many 
instances of similar stubborn ess. In such matters, the 
fancy of young people is often the supreme law. Louis 
the fourteenth was not more head-strong aiid dogmatic 
when he said, that his heavy guns were the last reason 
of kings, than is the mere fancy of the eye in youth. 
Samson's falling in love, was in the ordinary way : " And 
he saw a woman of Timnath," and she pleasedliim well. 
Hebrew, " For she is just right in my eyes." Some inter- 
preters think the original implies something more than 
she was agreeable to his fancy. Possibly it may mean, 
that he was moved by the Lord to this alliance;, seeing 
that it would furnish a proper occasion for him to begin 
his deliverances. The Hebrew yashar, may mean not 
only that she was beautiful, fascinating in his eyes, but 
also that she was fit, rigid, appropriate in regard to the 
great work which he had to accomplish. If this sense 
be adopted here, then Samson was prophet enough to 
understand the popular doctrine of availability. He had 
regard to an ulterior and higher purpose than gratifying 
his taste. This does not necessarily imply, however,' 
that he did not love this woman. Prudence and affec- 



samson's paradoxes begin. 157 

tion may coexist. Nor do I see anything wrong in his 
making his love for this woman subservient to the great 
patriotic mission for which Providence had raised him 
up. But surely it was a strange beginning. The prom- 
ised deliverer of Israel takes a wife from their hereditary 
enemies. But was not this a fair prologue to the rest of 
his life ? He was a man of paradoxes. 

We do not wonder that his pious parents were aston- 
ished at his wish to take a Philistine woman to wife. 
They were national enemies. And the angel had said 
he should deliver Israel. They would therefore natur- 
ally inquire, how is this ? Is our deliverance to begin 
with an alliance ? We are not to touch anything unclean ; 
our child is a Nazarite; and yet he wishes to marry a 
heathen ! This is the beginning of the riddle. Is there 
never a woman among thy brethren ? is the natural inquiry 
of such a father and mother. As he was so especially 
consecrated to God, it must have seemed peculiarly 
improper for him to make such an alliance. But Sam- 
son was not in a reasoning mood. His love for the Philis- 
tine maid was as ardent as his strength was great. The 
brave love heroically. As a good son, he consults his 
parents, and asks their approbation ; but, then as is too 
often the case, he pressed his own desires too obstinately. 
When his parents remonstrated against such an alliance, 
he replied to his father, saying, Get her for me, for she 
pleaseth me well. Still, let us not forget that he did con- 
sult his parents. This showed his regard for them and 
for the law of God. Before he paid his addresses to the 
young woman, or said anything to her parents, he laid 
the affair before his own parents. As yet his marrying 
was not a foregone conclusion. Thus far he is a noble 



158 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

example for all young persons. Doubtless there would 
be many more happy marriages, if pious parents were 
more reverentially consulted, and if such unions were 
more generally formed with due regard to the divine will. 
Obedience to God in marrying as well as in other things 
is the way of happiness. 

In seeking a Philistine wife, even in the most favora- 
ble light we can take of the affair, Samson was treading 
on doubtful and dangerous ground. Their law expressly 
forbade the Israelites to marry among those nations that 
were cursed and devoted to destruction. It does not 
appear, however, that the Philistines were numbered 
among the doomed Canaanites. They were of Egyptian 
origin. The spirit of the Hebrew law, however, was 
plainly against such alliances, for the Philistines were 
idolators and foreigners. It is true the law that forbade 
an Israelite to marry a heathen, was a ceremonial law, or 
a police law — one that related to their national policy. 
It was not one of the laws of the Decalogue. It was not 
a moral law. It might therefore be changed, or sus- 
pended. 

In what sense was it of the Lord that he sought the 
Timnite damsel for a wife as an occasion against the 
Philistines ? It is seldom the sacred writers give rea- 
sons for what they record, but the fourth verse seems to 
be parenthetical, and designed to explain why Samson's 
parents declined consenting to this marriage. It is 
clearly implied that if they had known that this was 
God's will, they would at once have acquiesced. They 
did agree to go with him to Timnath, as we find from the 
following verse, to see more about the matter, and finally 
gave their consent. Some think they went with Samson 



samson's marrying fancy. 159 

because he told them plainly his motives, or that in some 
way, they understood the thing was of the Lord. But 
if the divine prohibition against such an alliance was 
repealed for the time, making for special reasons his case 
an exception, how is it that the historian does not inform 
us of this fact ? Why does not Samson tell his parents 
that the law is repealed in this case ? There is not even 
a hint of any such thing. The statement that this alli- 
ance was of the Lord does not excuse Samson from all 
responsibility. The match was of his own seeking. He 
acted as a free agent in going down to Timnath. He 
was not carried there by angels, nor did God miracu- 
lously excite his love towards the Philistine dame. But 
God, seeing Samson's choice, determined to bring good 
out of it — he determined that his attachment to a Phi- 
listine woman should be overruled, so as to be the occa- 
sion of his beginning to deliver Israel. Some are even 
ready to believe that Samson feigned an attachment to 
this woman, and only designed from the beginning to 
make an occasion or get an excuse for attacking the 
Philistines. This is not consistent with the original. 
His love for her was sincere, but doubtless he desired 
also to avenge himself and his countrymen upon her 
people as soon as a fit opportunity should occur. 

That it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion 
against the Philistines, does not make God the author of 
it. Samson was permitted to exercise his own free 
will, and to follow his fancy in choosing a wife, and God 
in the exercise of free agency and sovereignty, made 
his choice subservient to the fulfillment of the promise 
made to his mother, that he should begin to deliver 
Israel from the hands of the Philistines. The Philistines 



160 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

were a people already tried and under sentence of judg- 
ment in the court of heaven. Against is here used in 
the sense of from, concerning them. The fault of a con- 
flict was to come from them, and then they were to be 
punished for the wrongs they had done to Israel. He, 
Samson, and not the Lord, is the proper subject of the 
verb. And even if we are not able to explain why the 
Lord adopted this peculiar way of bringing down his 
judgments on the Philistines, the sacred narrative is none 
the less perfect. It is a simple record of events, or of 
God's dealings with his people, and not an explanation 
of motives or a detail of reasons for the divine proceed- 
ings. Some suggest that this method was adopted to 
concentrate on the person of Samson himself the whole 
wrath and force of the Philistines, because it was God's 
plan to make him the deliverer of the Llebrews by his 
own personal exploits, rather than by leading their hosts, 
as the other judges had done. He was «ot the chief of 
their armies, but himself the army, more fully than ever 
the grand monarch was the state. It was a part of this 
plan therefore to bring about a private quarrel between 
Samson and their enemies, and this was done naturally 
enough, and as many other quarrels have been, about a 
woman. Helen is not alone in her glory. Other cities 
than Troy have been exceedingly troubled on account of 
their fair ones. Whether Samson prophetically foresaw 
what was to happen is not stated. Most probably he 
did not know beforehand in what way the result was to 
be effected. But having full confidence in the provi- 
dence of God, and knowing that it was his will to execute 
judgments upon the enemies of his countrymen and that 
he was raised up to be the agent of inflicting them, he 



SAMSON ALONE RESPONSIBLE. 161 

was no doubt under a strong impression that such results 
would come of his enterprise, but without any definite 
idea of the details. God knows the end from the begin- v 
ning. The divine mind saw, therefore, clearly how the 
baseness and perfidy of Samson's wife and professed 
friends would prove an occasion of bitter hatred and 
revenge — and how the Philistines would thereby lay 
themselves liable to punishment — and that there was no 
injustice in their punishment. But the omniscience of 
the supreme Being was not a moving cause to the 
actors. They acted of their own free will as in the case 
of our Lord's crucifixion. And is there any reason 
why the Almighty may not use his omniscience in gov- 
erning the world, and in making the wicked work out 
their own punishment ? Some restrict the moving or 
exciting from the Lord to his seeking a righteous cause 
of quarrel, and deny that Samson's marriage with the 
Timnite was in any sense instigated by the Lord. It 
was of the Lord that Samson should begin his work of 
delivering the Israelites from the tyranny of their oppres- 
sors, and that he should have a just ground for inflicting 
judgments upon them ; but it was not of the Lord that 
he should violate the law in marrying a heathen. In 
this view of his case, we find him moved by the Lord to 
find a quarrel with the Philistines, and constitutionally 
framed to be a great warrior and an avenger of Hebrew 
wrongs, and at the same time, we see him moved by his 
own constitutional and most characteristic propensity to 
find the cause or occasion of a quarrel with the Philis- 
tines by falling in love with one of their maidens and 
seeking her in marriage. But great care is necessary to 
distinguish between what the Lord moved him to do, 



162 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

and what his own propensity moved him to do. Think 
you, that he prayed to God to direct him as to the pre- 
cise method of his procedure against the Philistines, or 
being persuaded that it was the divine will for him to 
seek a quarrel with them, did he trust to his own judg- 
ment as to the means ; and in the meantime concludes 
that he will find the occasion of the quarrel in gratifying 
his passion for a Philistine maid ? It is certainly true 
that men sometimes so deceive themselves, that they 
pray for guidance from the Lord, while at the same time, 
their course is fixed. In their own hearts what they 
will do is a foregone conclusion. They pray for the 
divine will to be done, and do their own will. They pray 
for light to follow providence, and rise from their knees 
and go straightway out to lead providence. They bow 
their knees before God, but not their souls. And regard- 
ing iniquity in their hearts, their prayers are not heard. 
Whatever it does or does not mean, the fourth verse can- 
not teach that God prompted Samson to transgress. God 
cannot tempt any man to evil. 

For at that time the Philistines had dominion over 
Israel. What is the force here of the illative for % In 
some sense it certainly expresses the idea that Samson 
was moved to find a pretext for avenging his people on 
their enemies. Schmid, and some others, understand it 
thus : the Philistines, by the art of war, were the con- 
querors ; they had dominion over the Israelites, and it 
Was not right for them to rebel against existing power, 
unless some fresh overt act of oppression was committed. 
The idea, then, is, that though suffering under a tyranny, 
yet it was necessary for them to have a just cause for 
endeavoring to shake off the yoke ; and that it would 



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 163 

have been unlawful for them to rise against their con- 
querors without such a cause. Our fathers of the Rev- 
olution of 177G, sought diligently to justify their Declar- 
ation of Independence and separation from the mother 
country, by stating to the whole world their reasons. 
They recited the acts of the Imperial Parliament that 
were unlawful, unjust, and ojmressive. They had 
sought repeatedly, and in various ways, for redress, but 
in vain. They were spurned from the throne, and their 
only hope was in revolution. The same is true of the 
revolution of 1688. It is unquestionably true that the 
Bible is very strong against insubordination and rebel- 
lion. But I have yet to see the proof that it enjoins, 
absolutely and unconditionally, the duty of passive obe- 
dience. The danger of our times, however, is all in the 
contrary direction. In Samson's case there is at ' least 
the appearance of singular prudence and moderation ; 
" that although he had ample grounds in the divine com- 
mission implied in the very fact of his being raised up 
and set apart as a national deliverer, yet, to avoid offense, 
he will not undertake the work till a just and legitimate 
cause of war occurs." 

In verses five, six, and seven, we have the first display 
of our hero's miraculous strength. His parents at first 
objected to the match, but afterwards went down with 
him to Timnath, either hoping that something would 
occur on the way, or when they should arrive, by which 
they could divert him from his purpose ; or they went 
in his behalf to arrange for the wedding. Substantially 
this is the manner of conducting such affairs still in the 
East. Sometimes the proposal is made, however, in a 
different style. A young fellow says to a father, such 



164 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

another father will give so much with his daughter, how 
much will you give if I may marry yours ? Ordinarily 
all such negotiations alfe carried on by the parents of the 
young people. The leading idea is of bargain and sale. 
The dower or the purchase money has more influence 
than the affection of the parties, or their fitness to make 
each other happy. 

Among the aborigines of the southern States, and 
perhaps the same custom obtains all over the continent, 
when a man wants a wife he does not make the applica- 
tion in person, but sends his sister, or mother, or some 
other female relative, to the relations of the young 
woman he desires for a wife. They consult the male 
relations, and if they approve they give a favorable 
answer. The bridegroom then sends a blanket, and such 
other articles of clothing as he is able, to the females of 
the family of the bride. If they accept this present, the 
match is made. And when he has made a crop and 
gathered it, and made the season's hunt, and brought 
home the meat, and put all this into his wife's hands, the 
marriage ceremony ends, and she is bound as his wife. 
( See White's statistics and description of Georgia, p. 
29.) 

As his father and mother were on their way down to 
Timnath, Samson goes aside into the vineyards belong- 
ing to the town, probably, says Henry, to gather grapes; 
but another, more poetically inclined, says Samson wished 
" to gain the pleasure of a lonely thought." But he had 
neither the pleasure of a lonely thought, nor of eating 
grapes, for " a young lion came and roared against him." 

I believe this is the first, but certainly not the last time 
allusion is made in the Bible to lions. In the subsequent 



THE LIONS OF THE BIBLE. 1G5 

books of the Bible they are frequently mentioned as be- 
ing found in Palestine and adjacent countries. In the 
life of David, and in the history of the exploits of his 
mighty men, they are several times mentioned. On a 
snowy day one of his worthies killed two lions in a pit. 
The disobedient prophet was killed by a lion ; and the 
overflowings of the Jordan drove lions from their hiding 
places in the thickets on its banks. Historically the proof 
is strong that lions were numerous in ancient times in 
Asia Minor. They live to be old, and multiply rapidly. 
It is true, however, that but few if any are to be found 
there at the present time. The monks of Mount Sinai 
told me, in 1851, that lions still prowled through the 
sandy plains, and over the mountains of the peninsula. 
But even if not a single lion could now be found in west- 
ern Asia, the text may be true ; for numerous instances 
can be cited of the disappearing of wild beasts from 
countries where they were once numerous. The hippo- 
potamus was once on the lower Nile, but is not there 
now. The Lotus is believed to have been a native of 
India, but flourished a long time on the Nile, and then 
disappeared. 

The slabs, cylinders, walls, columns, and tombs of the 
ruins of Chaldea, Assyria, and Egypt prove that lions 
were well known in ancient times. Hunting lions and 
killing lions is often represented. They are found still 
on the banks of the Tigris, the Euphrates, and in the 
Syrian deserts. Our engraving copied from Loftus' 
work on Susiana, and from a clay tablet of Sinkara, 
proves that such encounters were not unknown in 
ancient times. In this tablet we have a picture of an 
almost every day occurrence among the ancient Chalde- 



166 



THE GIANT JUDGE. 



ans. Here we see a lion disturbed in his feast on a bul- 
lock, by a man armed with a club and hatchet. The 
lion roaring and lashing his tail, with mane erect, is ex- 
tremely spirited. This clay tablet, which we take from 
Mr. Loftus' volume, dates back almost to the days of the 
Judges, and was found not a thousand miles from Tim- 
nath. I do not say this tablet is a picture of Samson, 




COPY OF CLAY TABLET FROM SINKARA. 



but we have only to suppose that the man represents 
Samson, but without a hatchet and club, for he had 
nothing in his hands, and that the lion was disturbed at 
his breakfast on figs, pomegranates, and grapes, instead 
of an ox, and we have a spirited illustration of our text. 
There are at least seven Hebrew terms signifying a 
lion, expressive of the different ages of that animal. 
Kephir in the text however, signifies a young lion in full 



samson's great modesty. 167 

strength, and therefore a dangerous adversary. Samson 
seems not to have been aware of his presence till the 
very moment when with open mouth he came fiercely 
at him ready to devour him. As the lion never roars in 
the presence of an enemy except when ready to spring 
upon him, it is obvious his danger was imminent. The 
lion roared against him, that is, was about to seize him 
and tear him to pieces. Samson was now twenty-two 
years old, but it was not in his own strength that he pre- 
vailed over the lion : " The spirit of the Lord came 
mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have 
rent a kid." That is, supernatural influence excited his 
body and his mind to an extraordinary degree of energy. 
As the danger was immediate and extreme, so the divine 
help was instantaneous. This adventure was singularly 
prophetic. It was well calculated to inspire him -with 
courage, and to awaken faith in himself and in God. As 
the king of beasts was as weak as a kid in the sinewy 
arms of the weaponless hero, and his body soon lay 
breathless on the ground, so could he with divine assis- 
tance overcome the oppressors of his people. It is 
remarkable that both Samson and David had a lion 
encounter as a kind of preparation for their conflict with 
the Philistines. See our engraving opposite page 168, 
representing Samson in the act of rending the lion. 

But he told not his father or his mother what he had done. 
He deemed it best to keep to himself for the present 
this evidence of God's favor. Perhaps he thought if he 
told his parents, the Philistines might hear of his great 
strength, and be more on their guard against him. He 
judged it best not to arouse their jealousy at present. 
His modesty and self-control are commendable. In rejoin- 



168 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

ing his parents with as much humility and composure as 
if he had not performed a great feat, we see the true 
hero. He was as modest as he was brave. Great talk- 
ers, noisy boasters are seldom good for any thing else. 
Such was Goliah of Gath, but the victory was with the 
modest son of Jesse. 

Ball suggests that if Samson's parents had been behind 
the hedge witnessing the fight with the lion, they would 
not have troubled themselves any more about his mar- 
riage. They would have concluded his life was lost, 
for what could an unarmed man do with a lion in his 
fury ? And sure enough, if the tawny adversary had 
found nothing but a man's strength in his antagonist, it 
had been an easy victory. " But the spirit of the Lord 
came upon Samson." And now " if his bones had been 
brass and his skin plates of iron," it would have been 
the same thing. He would have rent him as if he had 
been a kid. The Creator who made the lions stand in 
awe of Adam, Noah and Daniel, could easily subdue 
this one before the giant Hebrew. Let us remember 
that the most dangerous lion in the way of duty is not 
the one that springs upon us from the wayside, but the 
one that lives within us. The strongest lion we have to 
fight, is the old Adam within. 

" Deny thyself, and take thy cross, 

Is the Redeemer's great command : 
Nature must count her gold but dross, 
If she would gain this heavenly land. 

The fearful soul that tires and faints, 

And walks the ways of God no more, 
Is hut esteemed almost a saint, 

And makes his own destruction sure." 




SAMSON KILLING THE LION. 

Who tore the lion, as the lion tears the kid." Page lus. 



totetaeas cut of % Stag. 



ii 



CHAPTER IX. 

SWEETNESS OUT OP THE STUONG. 

" But one sad losel soils a name for aye."— Childe Harold. 

The fourteenth, chapter of Judges opens with an 
engagement of marriage. We are now going to the wed- 
ding, but on our way we have meat out of the eater and 
sweetness out of the strong. We are now at the begin- 
ning of the end. After a time Samson returns to take 
the woman of Timnath to wife. The Hebrew here signi- 
fies after some days, probably after a year. For it was 
the custom of those days in the East, as it is still, for ten 
or twelve months to elapse between the betrothment and 
the marriage. During this time the espoused wife 
remained with her parents preparing her dresses and 
ornaments for the wedding. Thus Samson went down 
with his parents, and the engagement was made, and now 
he returns to be married. And on his way as he passes 
the vineyards where he had killed the lion, he turns aside 
to see the carcass, and behold it was full of bees and 
honey. His astonishment at finding the lion's carcass 
thus replenished is well . represented in our wood cut. 
Though Samson was not a " word-doughty knight," he 



172 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

was a close observer. He kept thinking of past provi- 
dences although he was on his way to his wedding. The 
motives that prompted him to turn aside to see the lion's 
carcass are not stated. But in pondering his ways as he 
was going to Timnath, it was natural that the sight of 
the vineyards where God had delivered him out of the 
power of the lion, should have excited his gratitude. It 
was well that a sense of God's goodness revived within 
him. The dangers we have escaped should not be for- 
gotten. When we are bereaved, we should be careful 
not to lose the benefits designed by forgetting the hand 
that afflicts ; and when God preserves our friends or raises 
us up from threatened death, surely thankfulness should 
fill our hearts. All God's mercies — all his providences 
to us should be monuments of our gratitude. 

1. Some raise a difficulty here by saying that the 
honey of the ancients was the expressed juice of dates. 
This may be true of some of their honey, but surely it 
is not denied that honey bees are as old as Moses. The 
Hebrew name for bees is from a root that signifies to 
rule, to speak, to lead, and was probably given to them 
because of the perfection of their government. And he 
took thereof in his hands, implies according to the orig- 
inal, that he wrested the honey from the bees — that he 
had to fight with them to get it. And he gave of the 
honey-comb to his parents ; but said nothing to them as 
to where and how he had obtained it. 

2. Some confusion is found in ancient authors about 
the liking or disliking of bees for dead bodies. A gen- 
eral opinion once prevailed among the heathen that 
honey bees were generated in carcasses. Virgil is quoted 
for such an opinion. " But here," says he, " they behold 



HONEY IN THE LION'S CARCASS. 173 

a sudden prodigy, and wondrous to relate, bees through 
all the belly, hum amid the putrid bowels of the cattle, 
pour forth with the fermenting juices from the burst 
sides, and in immense clouds roll along ; then swarm 
together on the top of a tree, and hang down in a clus- 
ter from the bending boughs." Varro is quoted for a 
directly contrary opinion. He says, " the bee never sits 
down in an unclean place, or upon anything that emits 
an unpleasant smell. They are never seen like flies, 
feeding on blood or flesh ; while wasps and hornets all 
delight in such food, the bee never touches a dead body. 
So much do they dislike an impure smell, that when one 
of them dies, the survivors immediately carry out the 
carcass from the hive, that they may not be annoyed by 
the effluvia." And Aristotle says : " The bee will not 
alight upon a dead carcass, nor taste the flesh." 

It is not our business to harmonize Aristotle, Varro, 
and Virgil, nor to settle the dispute among their learned 
scholiasts. It may be that these contradictory opinions 
have arisen from vague traditions concerning Samson's 
bees. It is a well known historic fact that directly con- 
tradictory traditions sometimes flow from one and the 
same fountain. 

" All errors from truth proceed." 

But an examination of the text does not decide in favor 
of either of these theories. It does not say the bees 
were generated or developed in the lion's carcass. There 
was " a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the 
lion," but it is not said the bees were hatched there. 
Nor is it said that the lion had just been killed, or that 
the flesh was putrid. The contrary is made to appear 



174 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

from the statement, that it was " after a time, he returned." 
It must have been as we have shown about a year after 
the lion was killed, that the bees were found in its skele- 
ton frame. This was quite time enough, for the birds 
and beasts of prey to have eaten the flesh off from the 
bones, and for the hot sun and parching winds of Asia 
to have completely dried them. Ants and vultures also 
are very numerous in Asia, and may have helped to 
prepare the carcass for the bees. The traveller over the 
plains of this side of our continent has often seen lying 
on the road side the bony frame of an ox or of a horse 
covered with a whole skin, while the flesh was eaten out, 
or consumed, leaving quite an appropriate place for a 
hive of bees. I do not see that there was anything 
more offensive to the delicate sense of the bee in the 
bare bones of the dried frame of the lion, than there is 
in the elk horn chair of our old pioneer (Mr. Seth Kin- 
man) which he has recently presented to the president 
of the United States. Nor are we without evidence of 
bees having settled themselves in a human skull and in 
tombs. It is well known that they are very ingenious, 
and can accommodate themselves to whatever kind of 
habitation may be at hand wherever they are. Hillocks, 
crevices of the rocks and hollow trees and holes in the 
earth have furnished them hiving places. Jonathan, 
David's friend, we are told came upon a bee-hive in the 
woods, where the honey comb was dropping from the 
trees to the ground. 1 Sam. xiv. I fancy the lion's 
dried frame was a place very much to their liking. It 
was in a secluded spot, among vines and flowers. And 
the dry bones saved them a good deal of scaffolding. 
Herodotus says positively that " bees have swarmed in 



HONEY IS GOOD THOUGH SWEET. 175 

dry bones." When therefore the caviler at our story- 
has settled his account with the " hoary father of history," 
then we may have more patience to talk with him about 
his objections to the natural history of the Bible. The 
supply of honey was another proof of God's providential 
interference, and should have taught Samson that God's 
blessings are often far beyond our expectations. He 
looked to see the skeleton of the dead lion, and behold 
it was full of honey. 

3. In vindicating Samson from violating his vows 
in taking honey from the carcass of the lion, we must 
remember that honey was not a prohibited article. A 
Nazarite might use it. And then, as we have seen, 
the lion's carcass was not now foul or unclean. There 
was no legal pollution in touching the bones of an ani- 
mal bleached by the winds and rains of twelve months. 
Honey, says Hall, is honey still, though in a dead lion. 
And though accidentally met with, and found in a place 
that was once ceremonially unclean, it was not to be 
rejected. The grace of God is the more precious if 
the vessel is unworthy. It is a weak device of the 
devil to persuade us to neglect the honey, because we 
do not like the lion. The treasure is in earthen vessels, 
that the excellence may be of God, and not of man. It 
is sound theology as well as common sense, to receive 
and enjoy our heavenly Father's gifts with thankfulness 
whenever they are bestowed upon us. Honey is not to 
be despised because it is sweet, nor the light because it 
is pleasant. Religion does not consist in making every 
thing sour and bitter. It is God's will that we should 
be happy, and rejoice in the use of the good things he 
gives us. But it is a sin to abuse any of his gifts. 




THE GIANT JUDGE. 

So Ms father went down unto the woman : and Sam- 
son made there a feast ; for so used the young men to do. 
They are married. The self-will of the young man 
prevails. His fancy was of more avail than anything 
else in the universe. Nor are we without similar exam- 
ples among our every-day sort of people. The ingre- 
dients are just the same, only put together in smaller 
quantities, so that ordinary men are without the charac- 
teristic intensity of Samson. They are quite as guilty 
of earthly passions, but without his heroism. But here 
is the beginning of the end. Samson married is Sam- 
son in trouble. The bane of his life was his fondness 
for Philistine women. But is this a reflection on God's 
institution of marriage ? Is Samson's unwise choice an 
argument against wedded life ? By no means. The 
abuse of a good thing does not prove that it is really 
evil. The marvellous Hebrew is now in bad company. 
At his wedding 



" He gathered revellers from far and near, 
The heartless parasites of present cheer." 



His wife was a heathen. She had not been brought up 
in the ways of godliness. She had never studied Sam- 
son's catechism, nor offered sacrifices to the God of 
Abraham, as he had done, and as his parents had done 
before him. There was no community of feeling be- 
tween them. On every subject there was a want of 
sympathy. He was a Hebrew, she was a Philistine. 
He worshipped Jehovah, she worshipped Dagon. In 
politics and religion they were altogether antagonistic — ■ 
irreconcilably so. There was no evidence indeed that 
she had any fancy for him. Her wishes seem not to 




SAMSON FINDING HONEY. 



"And on his way as he passed the vineyard where he had killed the lion, 
he turns aside to see the carcass, and behold it was frill of bees and honey." 
Page 170. 



PIETY A WOMAN'S GLORY. 177 

have been considered at all. Nor does she seem to 
have had anything to say in the matter. It is strange 
that Samson should have been so fixed on marrying a 
woman without any true religion. Piety is woman's 
highest beauty and greatest protection. A man without 
religion is bad enough — a poor reprobate without peace ; 
but a woman without religion is still more revolting. 
She is " a flame without heat ; a flower without per- 
fume." Amid all the trials, storms and tribulations of 
this world, without religious faith, she is " a drift and a 
wreck." Who that has ever experienced the sweet 
truthfulness and abiding love of a godly mother, or a 
pious wife, or a " sister dear," whose being is in her 
brother's and in her devotion to her heavenly Father, 
can fail to appreciate the worth of piety in woman ? 
Let us have irreligion anywhere else rather than in our 
mothers, wives and sisters. They are our guardian 
angels, and if they become ministers of evil, all men 
are lost. 

It is only where the altars of family w T orship rise 
amid the toils of trade and art, and the hearth-stone 
glows with domestic love, that we expect a permanently 
prosperous community. 

So vastly important is this whole subject — important 
in a social and patriotic point of view, as well as from 
a christian stand-point — that I dwell here a little by 
way of illustration, on the influence of marrying and of 
married life in France. And I do so the more, because 
it has not received the attention, in my humble opinion, 
that it deserves. The statesman and historian, M. 
Thiers, in his history of the French Revolution, ex- 
presses the belief that the corruptions and troubles of 
H* 



178 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

France are to be ascribed to the influence of her women 
during and subsequent to the reign of Louis XIV. He 
considers it the great misfortune of France that at the 
period of the Revolution, all the Bourbons of France, 
Naples and Spain were under the influence of their 
wives and mistresses, who were not the women for their 
times. It is a curious and highly suggestive fact, that 
from 1780 to the present time, it has been necessary to 
reduce the minimum height for enlistment in the troops 
of the line of France. In 1789 it was Jive feet one 
inch French measure. After twenty-five years of con- 
stant war — after the battle of Waterloo, the minimum 
was reduced to less than four feet ten inches ; and in 
1830, to four feet nine inches. And during the reign 
of Louis Philippe it was again reduced. And if the 
same stature of the armies of Louis XVI. were required 
for the soldiers of Louis Napoleon III., more than one 
hundred and twenty thousand men would have to be 
dismissed from the line. 

These statements are chiefly taken and abridged from 
the North British Review for 1857. They are abun- 
dantly corroborated, however, by the current reports of 
France on the subject, and by the English Reviews for 
the years 1856 and 1857 generally. In the years from 
1831 to 1837, 504,000 youths were admitted, and 
459,000 rejected from the army of France, because of 
physical defects. And for the next six years, from 
1839 to 1845, the deterioration was even greater — only 
486,000 were admitted against 491,000 rejected. As 
we read history, it is clear that the Copts, Greeks, Ital- 
ians and Spaniards as races have deteriorated ; while 
the Germans, the Russians and the Anglo-Saxon, that is 



WHAT FRANCE WANTS. 179 

the British, Irish, Scotch and Americans are still vig- 
orous and advancing in power as nations. But how is 
it with France ? Her emperor at present gives law 
to Europe. The French are a most extraordinary peo- 
ple. We are prepared to give to them the full meed of 
fame to which they are entitled. In many things they 
are emphatically a most wonderful people. But as a 
nation, their own statistics show they are not advancing 
in the same ratio as their neighbors on the continent 
beyond the Rhine, nor across the channel. At the head 
of the civilization and political power of the age, how 
is it that their own army reports show such a marked 
deterioration in their physical man ? I seek not at 
present any further solution of this question, than to 
look at it from a moral and religious point of view. 
And the explanation is found in the words of one of her 
own great statesmen : France ivants religion. Yes, 
France has consumed her vital energies. She has 
exhausted herself for glory. Like lands forced to ex- 
traordinary fruitfulness until they are so consumed that 
even chemical appliances can no longer bring forth the 
harvest. Wars and the loss of life and energy, and the 
consumption of the healthy subsistence of the people by 
an enormous army, explains in part this exhaustion. 
But the cause is higher still — lies deeper still. It is 
found in a disregard of the laws of God in respect to 
the family. In France the sexual passions are sub- 
sidized to science, and licentiousness is governed by a 
philosophical police, " and in Paris one. child in every 
three is born out of wedlock." 

Though the social, martial and intellectual status of 
France may at this moment be as high as it ever was, 



180 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

yet her own statistics show an obvious physical deterio- 
ration. This deterioration, according to their own army 
figures, has been going on regularly for almost seventy 
years. And why ? Because the family is not in 
France what the Bible teaches us it should be. The 
Bible does not govern the social habits of the French. 
The Creator, who has the residue of spirits in his hands, 
and could therefore have created many women for one 
man, made man male and female. " And wherefore 
one ? That he might seek a godly seed." Mai. ii : 15. 
The all wise Creator says, also, " It is not good for man 
to be alone." These ordinances of the Supreme, many 
of our philosophical neighbors disregard. And if they 
do not claim that it is good to be alone, they will at least 
be free from the virtuous ties of the family relation. 
Our idea of a home they entertain not. They live on 
the boulevards and in the restaurants. Marriage is 
either never contracted, or if at all, late in life, and then 
few children are desired, and even these few are brought 
up by hired nurses. And the very causes, moreover, 
that lead to this neglect of marriage strongly tend to 
the most pernicious physical results. The unrestrained 
indulgence of lust and gaiety are so expensive, that a 
lawful family cannot be supported at the same time ; 
and besides, such indulgences weaken and destroy the 
constitution. Samson in part illustrates our position. 
He had no children. If he had married according to 
the usual custom of his country, and brought up a family, 
he would have been a far better citizen, a more happy 
man, and not have come to a violent death. 

Politicians and philosophers may affect to smile at our 
simplicity ; but from the lights before us, it is palpable 



woman's influence on society. 181 

that France in physical stature has deteriorated, while 
her neighbors of different social habits have not, and in 
the abuse of the social feelings which the Creator has 
ordained, and in the want of family organizations on 
Bible principles, we find causes quite sufficient to explain 
the diminished stature and physical defects of her masses. 
The society of women is a necessity of national exist- 
ence, physically and morally. If "a man discovered 
America, it was a woman that equipped the voyage." 
And so it is everywhere. No matter who it is that 
executes, he was born and trained by a woman. Every 
Columbus that has left his mark in the world, was fur- 
nished by his Isabella mother, who for that purpose laid 
aside her jewels, it may be her personal comforts, cer- 
tainly her vanities and time-consuming fashions. Writers 
on the penal colonies of Great Britain tell us there is 
but little hope of a female convict unless she marries 
and becomes a mother. And it is quite as well known 
that men who are not restrained by the ties of home, 
and the influence of virtuous women are almost hope- 
less. The intercourse of the sexes has been appointed 
by the Creator. It is, then, of the first importance to 
society that it take place under wise regulations. God's 
laws cannot be improved. Then let the wedded lamp 
burn brightly and cheerfully where it is already kindled ; 
and if in any of our homes it has grown dim, let it be 
relumed. And let him be regarded as an enemy to 
God and man, who discourages marriage and advocates 
celibacy, or who corrupts society by weakening the 
bonds of the family which God hath joined together. 



%\t SKttomg JP>Me atto Cragebjr. 



/ 



CHAPTER X. 



THE WEDDING EIDDLE AND TRAGEDY. 

" Hail, wedded love, mysterious law, true source 
Of human offspring, sole propriety 
In Paradise of all things common else : 
Bj T thee adulterous lust was driven from men, 
Among the beastial herds to range ; by thee, 
Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure, 
Relations dear, and all the charities 
Of father, son, and brother first were known. 
Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets — 
Here love his golden shafts employs, here lights 
His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings, 
Reigns here and revels ; not in the bought smile 
Of harlots, — loveless, joyless, unendeared, 
Casual fruition ; nor in court-amours, 
Mixed dance, or wanton mask, or midnight hall, 
Or serenade, which the starved lover sings 
To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain." 

Milton. 

In the last chapter we went down to Samson's wedding. 
Let us stay awhile at the feast, and when tired of flow- 
ing cups and sparkling wit, we shall have one of those 
tragedies that marked the earlier administrations of our 
giant judge. His introduction to the bench was scarcely 
less distinguished than his exit from it. 

" So his father went down unto the woman ; and 
Samson made there a feast ; for so used the young men 
to do. 



186 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

" And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they 
brought thirty companions to be with him." 

His father did not go alone ; but as the head ( Sheikh) 
of the family, leading them to the wedding, he alone is 
mentioned. The Chaldaic version has the sense of the 
passage exactly : " Went down relative to the affair of 
the woman." The thirty companions, under the pretense 
of friendship, were really spies. Many of the courtesies 
of the world, as well as of politicians, are hollow and 
thankless. " Open defiance is better than false love." 

It was the duty of these " children of the bridegroom," 
as his " friends," to make the company happy. The 
chief one was called " the governor of the feast," as we 
see in the marriage in Cana of Galilee. Such was the 
condition of the Hebrews at this time, that their oppres- 
sors would naturally be suspicious of any Hebrew of 
such noble bearing and prestige as Samson. The Phi- 
listines were probably somewhat acquainted with his 
conduct in the camp of Dan, and would watch him 
closely, even at his marriage feast. 

1. I do not see anything wrong in Samson making a 
feast, as the young men used to do. It belonged to the 
bride and her friends to say what its details should be. 
In so far, then, as he could comply with the customs of 
her people, without sinning, we find no fault. We may 
concede prejudices, but cannot compromise a duty. We 
may surrender our likings, profits, or preferences, but 
we may not surrender a principle. And I do not see 
but that it is lawful and proper to conform, in things not 
sinful, to the customs of those with whom we live. If 
in the marriage feast there was any recognition of idols, 
or heathenish ceremonies, then Samson did wrong to 



woman's society refines. 187 

submit. Some commentators so understand the history, 
but I do not see any evidence of idolatrous rites in the 
marriage or the feast. In teaching us to fear God and 
keep his commandments, the Bible does not require us 
to be proud, mopish, rude, supercilious, or ill behaved. 
In becoming a christian a man does not cease to be any 
the less a gentleman. The want of genuine politeness 
is no proof of true religion. 

A careful examination of ancient history is a full veri- 
fication of the customs alluded to in the text. The Phi- 
listines, early Egyptians, and ancient oriental nations, 
were not Turks in their treatment of women. They 
were more liberal as to the social position and privileges 
of their females than modern orientals are. Women, in 
ancient times, mingled with the men at their feasts, as 
they do now with us. The monuments of Egypt prove 
this, as well as the history of the ancient Chaldeans, 
Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Nor can it be shown, 
historically, that their presence was a disadvantage — 
rather the reverse. It has been said by one ( Thackeray ) 
of the most observing of men, and withal a great humor- 
ist, and, as far as may be, removed from the stupid prose 
of the orthodox pulpit, that " all men who avoid female 
society have dull perceptions, and are stupid ; or have 
gross tastes, and revolt against what is pure. Your 
club swaggerers, who are sucking the butts of billiard 
cues all night, call female society insipid. Poetry is 
insipid to a yokle ; beauty has no charms for a blind 
man ; music does not please a poor beast, who does not 
know one tune from another. It is better for you to 
pass an evening, once or twice a week, in a lady's draw- 
ing room, even though the conversation is rather slow, 



188 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

and you know the girl's songs by heart, than in a club, 
tavern, or in the pit of a theatre. All amusements of 
youth to which women are not admitted, rely on it, 
are deleterious in their nature." Woman's society is 
necessary to correct the pride and selfishness of men, for 
a man is bound to be respectful to a lady. And it is a 
great point gained for elevating a man's character, and 
securing his good morals, when he is compelled to feel 
that there is somebody besides himself whose feelings 
and tastes are to be consulted — somebody besides his 
lordly self to whom he must be respectful and attentive. 
It is well known that men are better behaved, in every 
respect, when restrained by woman's refining presence. 

The same customs alluded to in our history are found 
still in the East. Islam has not sensibly affected the usages 
of the Arabs, Turks, Hindoos, Persians or Africans, 
except where some peculiar religious rite is concerned. 
It is not probable that the institutes of Moses made the 
Hebrews differ from their Canaanite neighbors in their 
general customs — only where their religion prescribed 
a difference. Oriental christian women — in Nazareth 
and Damascus for example — are not distinguished 
materially from mohammedan women in their dress and 
social habits. Women in our mission churches in 
mohammedan countries, are separated from the men by 
a wall or screen when at worship. 

2. At weddings it was common to have games, riddles, 
and the like amusements. 

" And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a 
riddle unto you : if ye can certainly declare it me, within 
the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will 
give you thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments. 






ANCIENT CUP-QUESTIONS. 189 

" But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me 
thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments. And they 
said unto him, put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. 

" And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth 
meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." 

An old scholiast on Aristophanes is quoted by Dr. 
Clark, as saying that it was " a custom among the ancient 
Greeks to propose, at their festivals, what were called 
griphoi, riddles, enigmas, or very obscure sayings, both 
curious and difficult, and to give a recompense to those 
who found them out, which generally consisted either in 
a festive crown, or a goblet full of wine. Those who 
failed to solve them were condemned to drink a large 
portion of fresh water, or of wine mingled with sea 
water, which they were compelled to take down at one 
draught, without drawing their breath, their hands being 
tied behind their backs. Sometimes they gave the crown 
to the deity in honor of whom the festival was made ; 
and if none could solve the riddle, the reward was given 
to him who proposed it." 

The classics abound in enigmas proposed at such 
entertainments. The Greeks excelled in them. The 
solution of these " banquet-riddles," or " cup-questions," 
was always highly applauded, and a failure implied a 
forfeit. Is there any reason why the Greeks did not 
borrow from Samson's country, by the way of Egypt ? 
And may we not take a profitable lesson from the 
ancients, as to our social entertainments? It were a 
much better way to spend our time at seasons of merry- 
making, in expounding enigmas and riddles, than in 
slandering our neighbors, or in gluttony or excessive 
drink. At our weddings let there be entertainment for 



190 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

the mind, as well as employment for the palate and the 
heels. It is something to avoid all foolish talking and 
vain jestings, and all filthiness of speech, as an apostle 
enjoins ; but it is more to improve the time for gaining 
knowledge and strengthening good resolutions. It is 
surprising how intelligent some men are merely from 
skill in conversation. They read hardly anything, but 
from being associated with well informed persons, and 
being good listeners, and skillful in asking questions, 
they acquire a vast amount of useful and important 
information. Our social habits and opportunities should 
be diligently employed in doing and receiving good. 

At the wedding all goes on merrily. Sport and play 
are in the ascendant. The cup-questions were as spark- 
ling as the cups. Many were the passages at wit. At 
last Samson is aroused. He says I will propose a rid- 
dle. He pits his wit against the whole of his compan- 
ions. If they solve his riddle he is to pay thirty changes 
of raiment. If they failed, they are to pay him one 
change of raiment apiece. The advantages were clearly 
on their side. They could lose but one change each, 
while he puts in peril thirty. The strong and the great 
may afford, however, to be generous, but Samson had an 
odd humor generally of putting himself against great 
odds. No doubt he thought himself sure of victory. 
No body but himself knew about the bees and the honey. 
Why should he not win ? The combination of incidents 
implied in his riddle was certainly rare, if indeed they 
had ever been found before. But as in all good riddles, 
the explanation was palpable, beyond dispute, as soon as 
given. It was like Columbus' solution of making an egg 
stand on end on the table. As usual on such occasions, 



PRESSING THE SOLUTION. 191 

as soon as the riddle was propounded, almost every one 
fancied his ingenuity was competent for the solution. 
There was much guessing, and many knowing looks 
among the guests. But the meaning still eluded their 
grasp. Six days of the seven during which the solution 
must be given, or the forfeit incurred, have past. Their 
pride and avarice are excited. They could not brook 
the idea of being defeated by a young, long-haired, rough 
looking Hebrew. Nor was it to their taste to part with 
their fine wardrobes. Nor were they at all scrupulous 
as to the means they might employ. They were shrewd 
enough to see in what direction Samson's weakest points 
lay. Therefore they said unto his wife, " Entice thy 
husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest 
we burn thee and thy father's house with fire." The 
alternative was not a very appropriate one for the honey- 
moon. It was rather rough language for her country- 
men to use if she did not get them out of this difficulty. 
They do not seem to have had any regard for the inno- 
cence of those they were ready to destroy — no regard 
for human life. It may be that much more may have 
been said and done than appears from the record. Surely 
such an appeal would not have been made even by Phil- 
istines, to a young bride, unless the case was deemed a 
desperate one. Nor can I think, that even a Philistine 
wife would betray her newly acquired husband in a 
moment and for a slight cause. Her countrymen must 
have been very urgent. They must at first have been 
indignantly repulsed, and have often appealed to her 
patriotism, and love for her kindred, before she could 
have entertained their treacherous proposals, and yielded 
at last under the pressure of their cruel threatenings. 



192 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

3. The forfeit was thirty sheets and thirty change of 
garments. The Hebrew for sheets is sedinim, hence the 
Greek sindon, fine linen. The term here means body 
garments, dresses, shirts rather than sheets — probably 
garments answering to the kumja and kaftan of the 
Arabs. The kumja is the shirt that hangs down outside 
of the drawers to the knees. The kaftan is the coat 
with open sleeves. Others think the sheets of the text 
are the chaykes of the Arabs answering very nearly to 
the Scottish highland plaid. The marginal reading 
shirts is in this case the better translation. For how 
could Samson obtain thirty sheets from the slain Phil- 
istines of Askelon? They were from home. They 
can hardly be supposed to have brought their beds with 
them. Besides, if they did, each one would have had 
two sheets, and Samson need not to have killed but fifteen. 
But he killed just thirty, to obtain thirty shirts and thirty 
changes of garments. 

" And he went down to Askelon, and slew thirty men 
of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of gar- 
ments unto them which expounded the riddle." 

Their spoil, or apparel — the garments they had on, 
including shirts and cloaks, though not here expressly 
mentioned. He obtained from them what he needed to 
pay his forfeit. It may be after all these shirts were the 
flowing robes of persons of quality. It is highly proba- 
ble the men whom Samson slew were men of rank, and 
if such their garments were full and costly. Isaiah uses 
the same Hebrew term for the splendid dresses of the 
great in his day. These mantles or shawls, as we should 
call them, were generally made of wool, though some 
were made of linen. The young man in the gospel, who 



THE NUPTIAL JOY. 193 

followed our Lord, when laid hold of, fled naked, leaving 
" the linen cloth." This does not mean that he was abso- 
lutely naked, when he left his plaid. But rather than 
remain a prisoner, he slipt off his mantle as a man might 
now do his loose cloak, and ran, leaving it in their hands. 
A similar explanation belongs to Peter's throwing off 
his fisher's coat or tunic. The meaning is not that he 
was in a state of absolute nudity, but deprived of the 
usual mantle or flowing garment. 

4. Let us hear how they proceed with the solution. 
On the seventh day, the last day of the marriage feast, 
but not till just before the going down of the sun, they 
said to Samson, " What is sweeter than honey ? and 
what is stronger than a lion ?" See verses fifteen and 
twenty inclusive. In Bible times, in Bible lands, as it is 
still, it will be remembered that weddings were occasions 
of great ceremony. The feasting usually continued seven 
days. Laban, in Gen. xxix : 27, 28, refers to Leah's 
week of nuptial ceremonies which could not be inter- 
rupted by the espousal of Rachel. The Greeks and 
Romans called the marriage week of feasting " the nup- 
tial joy," and did not allow any work to be done, other 
than what was necessary to carry on the entertainment, 
nor permit any signs of mourning. It was also the cus- 
tom to make and receive presents during the nuptial 
feast, particularly on the third day. In patriarchal times 
the bride's father always presented his daughter with a 
female slave for a handmaid, who was to be inseparable 
from the family. She was to nurse the mother and the 
little ones, and to be faithful to her old master's daughter, 
if all the rest of the world should forsake her. Other 
presents were also exchanged according to the wealth 
i 



194 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

and rank of the parties, consisting generally of jewelry, 
couches, beds, vestments and all sorts of things reckoned 
needful for house-keeping. 

And Samson's wife wept before him — wept before him 
the seven days while the feast lasted. Her weeping was 
not out of affection for him. Pier tears were crocodile 
tears, or they were tears of terror for her own sake. 
She loved him not. She said, however, " Thou dost but 
hate me, and lovest me not : thou hast put forth a riddle 
unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. 
And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my 
father, nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee ?" Is not 
this the address of a jealous or teasing wife still ? When 
she wishes to have expressions of endearment, does she 
not hypothecate charges of want of love for her against 
her husband, that she may have the pleasure of hearing 
him deny them ? Nor is she less skilful than Samson's 
wife in instituting a rivalry between herself "and the 
children of her and especially of his own people. And 
is not Samson's answer just the type of an honest heart 
— of a great and true man ? In a simple, straight for- 
ward way, he assures her that he had not kept the secret 
from her from any want of affection. For he had not 
told it to his own father or mother. Samson's reply is 
a proverb still in the East. When any one wishes to 
excuse himself from telling a secret, he says, " Why ! I 
have not told it either to my father or my mother : how 
then can I tell it to you ?" " My friend, do tell me the 
secret." " Tell you ? Yes, when I have told my parents." 
(See Roberts, and others.) The idea that Samson 
wished to impress upon his wife was, that he had not 
treated her with any disrespect or coldness. It is as if 



CAN A WOMAN KEEP A SECRET. 195 

he had said : I have been long with my father and mother. 
They have uniformly treated me with kindness. They 
have done a great deal for me — much more than I shall 
ever be able to do for them. They are worthy of my 
fullest confidence. I love them dearly, and yet I have 
not told them this secret. How then can I tell it you? 
If I tell it to you, will I not show a want of respect for 
them ? 

I fancy the human races are very much the same in 
all ages and countries. And although it is heterodox, I 
should think it about as difficult a thing for a man in 
modern times to keep a secret as for a woman. I am 
not sure, but when great interests are involved, women 
are more trust worthy than men. Their firmness and 
ready wit in emergencies are proverbial. A Hindoo pro- 
verb says : " to a woman, tell not a secret." But shall 
we believe a heathen saying, rather than the experience of 
a christian age ? Samson's heathen wife is not our model. 
And besides, as it has been shrewdly remarked, if Sam- 
son could not keep his own secret, how could he expect 
his wife to do it ? Strange that he was " fool enough to 
suppose that another would be more faithful to him than 
he was to himself." Indeed, under all the circumstances, 
it is wonderful he did not suspect treachery. What just 
grounds had he to trust in a Philistine woman ? 

Whether she prevailed on a promise of secresy or not, 
the history does not say. If so, the promise was soon 
broken. It was made to deceive. But who would 
believe the word of a faithless wife ? And yet how can 
she be resisted ? She pleads and weeps, and accuses 
him of not loving her. In such a contest, who is always 
victorious? May not a woman's tears prevail — espe- 



196 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

cially when that woman is a young wife and the husband 
uxorious as only Samson could be ? Some allowance 
should be made for the Israelitish judge. Who that 
ever witnessed a similar strife, can wonder that the 
strong man did not stand out against her tears ! Young, 
lovely and his bride ! Few men of strong minds would 
have held out any better than the giant judge. To us 
his greatest weakness seems to have been his blindness 
in not seeing the net that was set for him. He must 
have been one of those honest, simple hearted, unsus- 
pecting great souls that cannot apprehend the depths of 
the cunning, nor the meanness of the selfish and pusil- 
lanimous. And after all, there is a manly, a heroic 
necessity to rely on the truth and tenderness of woman's 
nature. In childhood and youth, in manhood and old 
age, she is man's truest friend. In sickness and sorrow, 
in works of charity and in acts of piety, she has too often 
proved herself to be man's angel of mercy, to be traduced 
by the heartless wretch who is incapable of appreciating 
her worth. All men are not Samsons, nor are all women 
like the Timnite bride nor like Delilah of Sorek. Those 
who are the loudest and the most profane in their com- 
plaints of the weakness of women, are the very men who 
have themselves done the most to corrupt them. Woman 
is man's other self — without her he is nothing. She is 
his blessing and his joy both in the sunshine and beauty 
of the world, and in its darkness and sorrow. Who, ye 
revilers of womankind — who were your mothers? And 
besides, has woman no wrongs — no cruel, outrageous 
wrongs to avenge, and to avenge only by pouring out to 
your faithless sex the cup you yourselves have drugged 
first for her ? 



PLOUGHING WITH HIS HEIFER. 197 

5. The solution is given at the appointed hour. Grimly 
exultant the men of the city, just before the sun went 
down on the seventh day, said unto Samson : What is 
sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? 
In a moment he saw he had been betrayed. " And he 
said unto them, If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, 
ye had not found out my riddle." Josephus paraphrases 
the interview thus : They said to Samson, " Nothing is 
more disagreeable than a lion to those that light on it, 
and nothing is sweeter than honey to those that make 
use of it." To which he replied : " Nothing is more 
deceitful than a woman ; for such was the perfidious per- 
son that discovered my interpretation to you." He 
meant, doubtless, that without the assistance of his wife, 
they could not have told the riddle. And on this plea, he 
might have disputed whether they were entitled to the 
forfeit. If y& had not 'ploughed with my heifer was prob- 
ably a common metaphor, or proverb. It seems to have 
been used with two shades of meaning, one that of licen- 
tious intercourse, and the other merely of familiarity. 
A similar phrase is found in several Greek and Latin 
writers, in which the idea of guilt is perhaps always 
implied. Rabbi Levi, the Syriac and the Septuagint, 
understand the expression to imply a guilty intercourse 
with his wife. Calmet says the Hebrew expression 
declares her infidelity as a wife. Samson then meant to 
say, if my wife had been faithful to my bed, she would 
not have betrayed my secret. With all due respect to 
such high authority, I do not believe this is the idea. 
The original does not necessarily convey the idea of 
wantonness, if it allows it at all. And his return to be 
reconciled forbids such an interpretation. The idea is 



198 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

this — Samson compares his wife to a young heifer not 
yet fully subdued to the yoke — not yet learned to go 
patiently — not yet obedient. This explanation, though 
it may not be elegant, mitigates her offense, and is fully 
sustained by the original and the context. 

I am fond of many of the old writers. They have 
often and justly been compared to the precious metals in 
masses. They are the nuggefs. I find some of them witty 
and severe on Samson's weakness for a Philistine woman. 
One of them, describing Samson's folly says : " And yet 
whom the lion could not conquer, the tears of a woman 
have conquered. Samson never betrayed infirmity but 
in uxoriousness. What assurance can there be of him 
that had a Philistine in his bosom ! Adam the most per- 
fect man, Samson the strongest man, Solomon the wisest 
man, were betrayed with the flattery of their helpers. 
As there is no comfort comparable to a faithful yoke fel- 
low, so woe be to him that is matched with a Philistine." 
And again, " ever since Adam's experiment with Eve, 
Satan hath broken many a man's head (and heart too) 
with his own rib." Nobody but Hall could have said 
this ; but a poet almost as quaint, has furnished the fol- 
lowing prayer for young men about to fall in love.; 

" Lord, clarify mine eyes, that I may know 
Things that are good, from what is good in show ; 
And give me wisdom, that my heart may learn 
The difference of thy favors, and discern 
What, truly good, from what is good in part ; 
With Martha's trouble give me Mary's heart.'' 

6. Though betrayed and badly treated, Samson scorns 
to complain, but goes right off to procure the means to 
pay his forfeit. He was neither a cruel husband nor a 
repudiator. 



THE ASKELON SLAUGHTER. 199 

" And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he 
went down to Askelon, and slew thirty men of them, and 
took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them 
which expounded the riddle." 

By the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him, we are to 
understand, that he was inspired with the courage and 
strength to perform the following feat. He made Aske- 
lon his wardrobe, and brought thence the wager of gar- 
ments for the winning Philistines, lined with the blood 
of their own countrymen. We know not the causes that 
led to this pitched battle between Samson and the men 
of Askelon. Samson may have had a few warriors with 
him. If he had not, the odds was very great against 
him. Nor must we forget that the Philistines were at 
war with Israel. There may have been a nominal truce 
between Dan and the Philistines of Timnath, and war 
still raging between the Hebrews and the Askelonites. 
The United States may be at peace with the Sioux, and 
yet the Apaches be carrying on their robberies and 
scalpings. And we must also remember that in this 
case, as when Moses slew the Egyptian according to 
the Noachian precept, Samson was not slaying merely 
for his own pleasure, nor merely to gratify any personal 
ill will. He was fulfilling his commission to deliver 
Israel. The Philistines were idolators — they were ene- 
mies to God as well as to him and his countrymen. For 
their sins they had been already tried in the court of 
Jehovah, and convicted, and were now under sentence, 
and Samson was appointed high sheriff to execute the 
sentence. His acts were therefore by the direction and 
assistance of God. The Hebrew government in this 
heroic age was a pure theocracy. Samson was God's 



200 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

lieutenant general, commissioned to execute judgment 
upon the Philistines. Their crimes were also sins, for 
Jehovah was both the true God and the acting king of 
Israel. The punishment on the Philistines was, first, 
because of their sins against God ; yet as God's messen- 
ger, the executioner of the divine sentence upon them, 
Samson was also revenging his own injury and his 
national wrongs. 

As to the hypercriticism urged by some, that as Sam- 
son was a Nazarite, he could not have touched the dead 
bodies to get their garments, it may be answered, that 
as he was acting under the influence of the Spirit of the 
Lord, he may have had a dispensation in this case, to do 
what on ordinary occasions he could not have done, just 
as our Lord explains the law of the Sabbath ; or the 
prohibition may not have extended to a Nazarite for 
life, but only for a limited period — or better still, as 
he was chief magistrate, he could have had no difficulty 
in obtaining men to strip off their clothes and carry them 
for him to Timnath, 

7. Samson's " anger was kindled and he went up to his 
father's house." Anger is as natural as a smile. His 
wife's treachery was a just cause of anger, and his going 
up to his father's house at this time showed unusual pru- 
dence and forbearance. When he returned to Timnath 
to pay the forfeit, he seems not to have seen his wife. 
But lordly as Achilles and quite as angry and proud in 
his own self consciousness of unmerited wrong and impul- 
sive ferocity, he strides off home to his father and mother. 
It was not wise for him to trust himself in his wife's 
presence when the sense of his wrongs was so warm 
within him. He probably feared he might commit some 

■J 



THE SACREDNESS OF MARRIAGE. 201 

great outrage, if he remained in Timnath. It is to his 
praise that he thus restrained himsejf, and that when his 
anger did burst forth in consuming fire, it was not so 
much on account of his own wounded pride, as to avenge 
his countrymen. Patriotism and piety are conspicuous 
in his heroic deeds. And in his lingering at home we 
see traces of filial love and of early piety. Yet for some 
reason or other, he does not seem to have made his 
parents his confidents. He neither told them how he 
was moved by the Spirit of the Lord, nor did he ask their 
advice about his plans against their enemies. 

But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom 
he had used as his friend. That is, she was given by 
her father and the chiefs of the town in marriage to his 
first groom's man. Although she had but little liberty 
in the matter, still no doubt she was glad the Hebrew 
was gone, and that she was the wife of his friend. How 
far Samson was justified in leaving his wife is not alto- 
gether clear from the text. Most probably he did not 
intend a final separation, although this was the result. 
The whole history is not written out. Many interpre- 
ters, inconsistently and strangely, in view of their under- 
standing of the eighteenth verse, blame him as much for 
leaving his wife, as for marrying her. It is a most 
practical and important matter for us to guard against 
the demoralization of society by allowing too slight causes 
to break the nuptial bands. Certainly one of the great 
sins of our times is the facility of obtaining divorces. 
Too little sanctity and permanence is attached to the 
marriage relation. Marriage is a sacred institution. It 
is a gift from heaven to man before there was any sin. 
Its purity lies at the foundation of our prosperity. The 



202 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

maraiage relation ought not to be dissolved for any slight 
cause — not from mere whims or fancies, or momentary 
passions, nor on account of imaginary wrongs. I could 
wish our statutes and our practice were more strict on 
this subject. 

The lesson has often been drawn from Samson's mar- 
riage — that christians should only marry in the Lord. 
Samson's case is indeed an admonitory one. Hereditary 
enemies allied by the most sacred and endearing bonds 
— a Nazarite, one peculiarly set apart to the service of 
God united in matrimony to an idolatress. Speaking 
after the manner of our times, we should say, a fair face 
and a warm fancy made sad work with the strongest 
man's piety. The warning of the good bishop on mixed 
marriages, although scarcely ever heeded, is worth a 
repetition. " I wish," says he, " Manoah could speak so 
loud, that all our Israelites might hear him. Is there 
never a woman among all thy brethren, or among all thy 
people, that thou goest to marry a stranger to God and 
religion ?" It were often better to attend our children's 
funeral than their wedding. Marriage is always a solemn 
event. Even when the choice has been agreeable to all 
parties, the future is an unopened volume. A veil of 
awful mystery hangs before the altar of marriage, which 
Omnipotence alone can penetrate. There is no surer 
way to a broken heart, to unutterable woe and an early 
grave, than to marry a fool, or a man without correct 
principles, a sot, a spendthrift, a knave, or a debauchee, 
though rich as Croesus, as clever as Byron, or as hand- 
some as Absalom. 



%\t f ttbgraettt o! % Jfom 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE JUDGMENT OF THE EOXES. 

" And Samson caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned 
tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between the two tails. And when 
he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the 
Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the 
rineyards and olives." 

At wheat-harvest, which in Palestine is about the 
time of Pentecost, when there is much rejoicing in 
the country, Samson visited his wife with a kid. We 
have seen that when he was betrayed by his wife, he 
left her in great disgust, and went to Askelon and slew 
thirty Philistines and paid his forfeit, and then went 
home and remained a good while with his parents. In 
the mean time his anger cools, and his affection begins 
to return, and not knowing that his wife had been given 
to his friend, (probably the very person to whom she 
had revealed the riddle,) he takes a kid, or fawn, and 
returns to be reconciled to her. His father-in-law was 
doubtless sincere in offering him his wife's sister in her 
stead. This was the best indemnity he could make. 
From the case of Laban, who, after he had cheated 
Jacob with Leah, gave him Rachel, we see that it was 
not unusual for a man to marry two sisters. It was 



206 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

probably to correct abuses of this kind that the law of 
Moses was afterwards enacted. Samson's forbearance 
is to be noted, as also his effort at reconciliation. Even 
his purpose to avenge himself, in the third verse of the 
fifteenth chapter, seems to be the utterance of a patri- 
otic judge, rather than of an aggrieved husband. If he 
had meditated retaliation merely for his personal inju- 
ries, his wife and her father were the parties to have 
been chastised. But he felt that it was as an Israelite 
chiefly that he had been injured, and as such he would 
be more guilty than even the Philistines, if he did not 
avenge this national insult. His manner of avenging 
himself was extraordinary, singular, and effective. His 
agents were one hundred and fifty pairs of foxes, with 
firebrands tied to their tails, which burned their corn, 
and vineyards, and olives. In the time of wheat-har- 
vest, the corn was partly standing, and partly gathered 
into shocks ; all dead ripe, and of course easily burned. 
Infidels have attempted to be merry over Samson's foxes 
and the burning cornfields of the Philistines. But let 
such remember that the corn was not maize or Indian 
corn, but wheat, which when ripe could be easily burned, 
either standing in the field or gathered into shocks. 
And as to Samson's ability to catch so many foxes, let 
it be observed : 

1. That the Hebrew shualim may comprehend not 
only foxes, but wolves and hyenas. The Bible name 
for fox is supposed to be derived from its habit of bur- 
rowing or dwelling in holes in the earth, and may be as 
applicable to wolves, hyenas and jackals as to foxes. 
The Septuagint and the Vulgate both understand the 
animal in this place to be the fox. It is true that a 



FOXES VERY NUMEROUS. 207 

different Hebrew word is used for the jackal ; but it is 
probable the term shualim included this animal also. 
Hasselquist and some other naturalists have thought 
the shualim of Palestine, the foxes of Samson, was an 
animal between a wolf and a fox — " the little eastern 
fox," as they denominate it, and not our ordinary fox. 
When hungry, this animal is said to devour little chil- 
dren, and even old and feeble persons. The Hebrew 
name ayim, for jackals, signifies howlers, and is equally 
appropriate to all this class of animals. It is only by 
the context that we can tell what kind of animals are 
meant in a given passage. 

2. But taking the term here in its comprehensive sense, 
as we well may, there is no doubt but that the country 
was full of foxes. The Scriptures often speak of them 
in the Holy Land. Their cubs ruined the vineyards, 
according to the Song of Solomon, ii : 15. " Take us the 
foxes, the little foxes that spoil our vines." And Jere- 
miah laments that the foxes had taken possession of the 
hills of Judea. Lam. v : 18. And Ezekiel compares the 
numerous false prophets of his day to the same animals, 
xiii : 4. And in the first book of Samuel, a portion of 
this very country is called Shual, that is the land of 
foxes — famous for the number of these animals found 
in it. And a neighboring city belonging to one of the 
tribes of Israel was called Hazar-shual ; that is, the 
abode or habitation of the fox. Every traveller through 
the country to this day, confirms the testimony of Bochart, 
Bellonius and Morizon, that it swarms with animals of 
this species. They lark in companies of two or three 
hundred on the borders of the desert, and in the ruins 
of old towns, and in the ledges of the rocks. 



208 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

3. Samson was no doubt an expert hunter as well as 
a terrible fighter, and well skilled in taking foxes. And 
then, as a chief magistrate, he could have employed as 
man j men to assist him as was necessary. When Neb- 
uchadnezzar is said to have built the great Babylon, 
and Solomon to have built the temple at Jerusalem, the 
meaning is not that they did all the work with their own 
royal hands. They did not lay a single brick, stone or 
timber themselves. But they caused the work to be done. 
There is no necessity then to prove that Samson caught 
all the foxes himself. Nor, 

4. Are we restricted to any short or definite period 
of time in which the foxes must have been taken. It is 
not said they were all caught in one hour, one day, or 
one week. He may have been several months in cap- 
turing them, for any thing the text says. 

5. Some say, though I do not attach any importance 
to the suggestion, that a miraculous agency was employed 
in bringing the animals to Samson, as in causing them 
to come to Adam to be named, and to Noah into the 
ark. It is not denied that God can control the instincts 
and guide the propensities of beasts, birds and fishes. 
This we see in Daniel's lions, Noah's doves, and Peter's 
fish ; but when there was no necessity, so to speak, for 
divine interposition in a miraculous manner, I prefer not 
to call for it. In theology, as in philosophy, there is no 
useless expenditure of Omnipotent energy. But a mir- 
acle is none the less a true miracle, because the means 
by which it is wrought are natural. The converging of 
the natural agencies in force on the desired point and 
for an avowed purpose is sufficient to make a miracle. 

Some, as the learned Kennicott and Saurin, think that 



LIONS, BEARS AND FOXES PLENTY. 209 

animals are not meant at all. They say that the true 
Hebrew word is not shualim, but schoalim, signifying 
handsful of corn or sheaves. It is only out of respect 
to such names that this interpretation is referred to all, 
for it is, in our humble judgment, wholly without sup- 
port, either from etymology, or the context, and contrary 
to the common sense view of the passage. Nor is such 
an interpretation in any way necessary. For surely it 
is not so unheard of and incredible a thing, to have col- 
lected such a number of these animals in ancient times 
as to destroy the credibility and literality of our story, 
because it contains this statement about the foxes. Did 
not Sylla show at one time to the Romans one hundred 
lions ? And Cassar four hundred, and Pompey six hun- 
dred ? The history of Roman pleasures, according to 
the books, states that the Emperor Probuslet loose into 
the theatre at one time one thousand wild boars, one 
thousand does, one thousand ostriches, one thousand 
stags, and a countless multitude of other wild animals. 
At another time he exhibited one hundred leopards from 
Lybia, one hundred from Syria, and three hundred bears. 
When the caviler settles his hypercriticism with Vopiscus' 
life of Probus, and with Roman history generally, we 
shall then consider whether our story should be rejected 
as incredible because of its three hundred foxes. 

It has also been proven by learned men that the 
Romans had a custom, which they seem to have bor- 
rowed from the Phenicians, who were near neighbors of 
the Philistines — if they were not Philistines them- 
selves — of letting loose, in the middle of April, (the 
feast of Ceres) — the very time of wheat-harvest in Pal- 
estine, but not in Italy — in the circus, a large number 



210 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

of foxes with burning torches to their tails. Is Sam- 
son's the original, or did he adopt a common custom of 
the country ? The story of the celebrated Roman vul- 
pinaria, or feast of the foxes, as told by Ovid and others, 
bears a remarkable similarity to the history before us, 
ascribing the origin of this Roman custom to the follow- 
ing circumstance : A lad caught a fox who had stolen 
many fowls, and having enveloped his body with straw, 
set it on fire and let him run loose. The fox, hoping to 
escape from the fire, took to the thick standing corn 
which was then ready for the sickle ; and the wind blow- 
ing hard at the time, the flames soon consumed the crop. 
And from this circumstance ever afterwards, a law of 
the city of Rome required that every fox caught should 
be burnt alive. This is the substance of the Roman 
story, which Bochart and others insist took its rise from 
the burning of the cornfields of the Philistines by Sam- 
son's foxes. The Judean origin of the custom is cer- 
tainly the most probable, and in every way the most 
satisfactory. Commemorative institutions or fetes always 
have their origin in facts. Of this we may be well 
assured, though the record of the original facts and even 
the facts themselves should be lost through the lapse of 
time. (See Ovid and his Scholiasts. Fastor. lib. iv : 
vers. 679.) 

And took fire-brands. Our word lamp is probably 
through the Greek lampos, from the Hebrew original in 
this place, lapidim, or, as it is in the Chaldee and Syriac, 
lampidim. These lampidim were a kind of torch, flam- 
beau, or burners, made with pitch. The animals seemed 
to be tied together in pairs, tail to tail, by cords of mod- 
erate length, and the torch fastened to this cord about 



FOXES WITH FIREBRANDS. 211 

midway. See our engraving. How these animals thus 
treated would act, we may easily comprehend from what 
almost every one has seen in the mischievous experi- 
ments that are sometimes made by tying fire-crackers, 
or squibs or tin pans to the tails of dogs. This, how- 
ever, is a cruel and ungenteel sport, that I hope none of 
our Sunday school boys will ever have anything to do 
with. Be kind to animals. It is at least well known 
that the whole fox race is prone to range about houses 
and fields, and when frightened, as these were, to run 
for cover to the thickest corn, if standing, or for the 
sheaves or stacks if gathered, and being vexed by the 
pain of the fire, they would first worry, and snap and 
fight, and run at cross purposes, and so spread the con- 
flagration, until we are quite ready to conclude with 
Calmet, " that nothing could be better adapted to pro- 
duce a general conflagration, than this expedient of com- 
bustion-communicating jackals. We must therefore 
suppose these burners were at some distance from the 
animals, so as not to burn them, and that they burnt 
long without being consumed.*' 

I am not aware that any experiment has ever been 
made to see how foxes would act tied tail to tail with a 
fire-brand between them. But Dr. Kitto, (to whose 
Biblical Illustrations I would especially refer the reader 
for much valuable information on this and kindred 
topics,) says he once saw two dogs -so tied together, and 
that they at first pulled in contrary directions, and made 
no head way at all ; but at last ran off parallel with 
considerable speed. And it is presumed foxes are as 
sagacious as dogs. At first there may have been some 
indecision and uncertain turnings, but very soon each 



212 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

couple found that the only way to reach cover, was for 
them to run together in parallel lines, distant from each 
other by the length of their tails and burning brands. 
And thus the very purpose was all the more effectually 
carried out. The fox is a swift runner. And when tied 
together as in this case, they were sure to run this way 
and that way, and to spread the fire all over the fields. 
Nor could they readily escape to the woods, or to their 
holes in the rocks, where the fire-brands would have 
been extinguished. Most of the animals probably per- 
ished, or if they escaped, fled from the country. 

It will be remembered that the cornfields of that 
country were not separated by high fences, or deep 
ditches or hedges, but extended as now in Celo-Syria, or 
Esdraelon, as far as the eye can see, one vast level, un- 
broken plain of waving grain. One hundred and fifty 
pairs of such animals, running with flaming torches to 
their tails, would very soon set an immense plain in a 
blaze. It certainly would not be a difficult matter to 
burn up a whole county of ripened wheat or barley in 
this state by turning loose three hundred coyotes into 
the fields with fire-brands tied to their tails. The tying 
of the animals in pairs may have been to prevent their 
reaching cover too soon. And besides, if the fire-brand 
had been attached to them singly, the tail would have 
fallen to the ground, and the brand would have soon 
died out ; but being sustained by the tension between 
the pair, the brand flamed out, and burnt all the better 
for their rapid motion after it was once kindled, and so 
the greater would be the damage. 

Frequent fires occur to this day among the towns of 
the interior of Asia and Africa, that are kindled and 



THE BURNING JUSTIFIED. 213 

made to spread from town to town by their enemies 
tying a burning cotton thread to the tail of a large species 
of buzzard, which flies to the thatch of the houses when 
set adrift.* 

Dr. Kitto says of the burning of the harvest-fields, that 
as bread is the staff of life, if any other man than Sam- 
son had done it, he should have been "hanged" — "that 
it looks like both a religious and social sacrifice, deliber- 
ately to waste and destroy it." Now if it would have 
been right to hang any other man for doing what Sam- 
son did under the same circumstances, then Samson 
should have been hanged. But where is the* authority 
for hanging or taking away life for any crime except that 
of murder ? And besides, I do not see the affair in that 
light. Was not Samson the divinely commissioned deliv- 
erer of Israel ? Were not the Philistines at war with 
Israel ? Had he not then a right to cut off their sup- 
plies ? It is allowed in war to deprive an enemy of the 
means of subsistence. If the Camanches should ever 
confederate with the dusky warriors of the plains and 
mountains, and the saints of the modern Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and pour down their thousands upon Contra 
Costa, and threaten this city and coast with destruction, 
captivity and slavery, would it not be right for the gov- 
ernor of the state, or the commander-in-chief of the 
Pacific division to consume the grain and cattle and stores 
that were likely to fall into their hands, or to prevent them 
from obtaining such supplies, and thus drive them back 
to their mountain fastnesses? Would not this be el jus- 
tifiable method of liberating the state from their depre- 

* Capt. Clapperton's Journal of his Second Expedition, p. 274. 



214 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

dations ? But if this is not sufficient, our hero bore a 
divine commission before he was born, to do the Philis- 
tines all the harm he could. This must end the strife. 
The method adopted we have admitted was a singular 
one, but it was very effective. Samson's commission 
was to deliver Israel from the Philistines. He was 
raised up to be a judge, called and appointed by God him- 
self, who was then the only king of Israel, to execute 
judgment on the Philistines. He was not acting as a 
private person, nor taking the law into his oun hands, nor 
assuming the sovereignty of the state. It was his duty to 
prosecute the mission for which God had raised him up. 
True, he is now the more ready to begin it, because he 
has personal wrongs to avenge. But he feels that it is as 
an Israelite that he has been insulted and wronged in the 
matter of his wife, and his patriotism and the honor of 
his God require him to punish them. His enemies are 
numerous and more warlike than his own countrymen. 
Their fields are full of ripe corn. The country abounds 
in foxes. These animals are swift runners. Why may 
he not use them as his agents in afflicting the Philistines? 
Why may he not rid the country of so many of these 
noxious animals either by thus destroying them, or 
frightening them away, and at the same time avenge his 
personal wrongs by punishing the Philistines in the way 
that would bring upon them the highest ridicule and 
contempt ? I see no reason why he might not kill two 
or three birds with one stone. 

In this history we have a most remarkable illustration 
of the terrible law of retribution which the Supreme 
Ruler of the universe has ordained, the presence of which 
runs like a flame of fire through all the history and 



FEARFUL LAW OF RETRIBUTION. 215 

through all the dispensations of providence. In select- 
ing foxes as instruments of his vengeance, Samson 
selected the animals, which of all others, were the most 
appropriate to the nature of the insult. Foxes are cun- 
ning ; and it was through their wit the Philistines had 
prevailed against him. It was not Greek with Greek, 
but Reynard versus the Philistines. They had won the 
garments by stratagem, and now their cornfields are 
burned by foxes. 

But the judgments of God that begin on a man's 
property, if not arrested by penitence and forgievness 
soon take hold of his person. This was the process even 
with Job, and with the Egyptians, though in them the 
attributes illustrated are different. From the murrain 
among their cattle, the Lord proceeds until the first- 
born is slain. And if judgments begin at the house of 
God, what will be the end of the ungodly, who obey not 
the gospel ? 

When the Philistines saw their cornfields, vineyards 
and olives destroyed, they at once understood how and 
for what it was done ; they therefore came and burnt 
Samson's wife and her father, inflicting upon her the 
very death threatened, and to escape which she had 
betrayed her newly married husband. Because Samson 
had burnt their fields of corn, the Philistines burnt the 
Timnites. They must have felt that Samson hcd been 
unjustly treated, and hoped by this means to appease 
him. The retribution upon Samson's wife and father 
was most inhuman and barbarous, and in every w T ay out 
of all proportion in its severity. It does not appear 
that either of them had any thing to do with the burning 
of the cornfields, yet their own countrymen burn them 



216 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

for what the Hebrew Samson had done. The fire-brands 
of the running foxes were not so destructive as the 
fire of dissension kindled between the Philistines. 
There is nothing more pleasing to the enemies of free 
institutions than to see their friends pulling each other 
by the ears. No other hands but our own can ever pull 
down and destroy the temples of justice, liberty and 
religion erected for us by our blessed fathers in this fair 
land. Union is our strength. 

Samson's wife in trying to avoid Scylla fell into Cha- 
rybdis. She betrayed her husband, because she feared 
her brethren would burn her and her father's house 
with fire, and yet by their hands she was burned with 
fire and her father also. She leaped into the flames she 
meant to avoid. The Jews who crucified our Lord did 
just the same thing. They professed to proceed against 
him to put him to death as Caesar's friends, lest the 
Romans should come and destroy them. And they suc- 
ceeded in crucifying him, but the Romans came, and 
burnt their temple and city with fire. It is still the rule 
of providence, that as men measure to others, so it shall 
be measured to them again. It should be eternally 
before our minds, that true principle is the only 
expediency. What God does is right. What he com- 
mands we must do. His will is the supreme rule. Our 
duty is obedience. All history, both sacred and profane, 
shows that the evil that men do in trying to escape by 
continuing to sin — by doing wrong to correct a wrong — 
by doing evil that good may come, even when their 
motives are admitted to be good — always meets them 
sooner or later in their flight. Sin added -to sin only 
enhances guilt. The history of the dishonest and the 



MEN THEIR OWN DESTROYERS. 217 

licentious is an illustrated commentary on this rule. 
Those that hasten to be rich, by resorting to dishonest 
means, and have accumulated property by fraud, do not 
generally long enjoy it. They seldom retain their gains, 
and if they do, how can they enjoy them haunted with a 
guilty conscience ? The general rule is, that Haman 
himself hangs on his own gallows, and not Mordecai. 
It is a singular and significant providence that so many 
of the inventors of means for taking the life of their fel- 
low men, should have perished by their own inventions. 
Gunpowder was the death of its inventor ; Phalaris was 
destroyed by his own " brazen bull." The regent Mor- 
ton who first introduced the " Maiden," a Scottish in- 
strument of decapitation, like the inventor of the Guil- 
lotine, perished by his own instrument. The same is 
true of Brodie, who induced the Edinburgh magistrates 
to use the " new drop," the same still in use. Marat, 
the bloody minded, died from the assassin's dagger. 
Danton and Robespierre conspired the death of Vergni- 
aud and of his republican confreres, the noble Girondists, 
and then Robespierre lived only long enough to see the 
death of Danion before perishing himself by the same 
guillotine. The duke of Orleans, the infamous Egalite, 
voted for the death of Louis XVI, and not long after- 
wards was guillotined himself. The wicked are taken 
in their own net. They fall into the ditch their own 
hands have digged. " Bloody minded and deceitful men 
shall not live out half their days." Sinning is a sure 
paymaster, and if delayed, the interest compounds rapidly. 
It is not necessary to adjourn to the court of futurity to 
know that sin is an evil thing and bitter. The way of the 
transgressors against both natural and moral laws is now 
j 



218 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

hard. The day of reckoning follows hard after sinful 
indulgence. Nature is inexorable. Her outraged laws 
must be avenged. The libertine and the drunkard find 
it to be so. Their bodies and minds soon bear the marks 
of guilt and punishment. Passions and appetites abused 
soon change the body into a prison for the soul. No 
fugitive escapes the police of God and nature. The pen- 
alties annexed by the Creator to the violation of the 
laws of our physical constitution are as awful as they are 
inevitable. Sooner or later, at home or abroad, on land 
or sea, conscience will awake and seize the guilty ; and 
abused nature will cry out, and fearful retribution will 
fall upon them ; or if not in this life, it will be all the 
more fearful because it falls upon them beyond the 
grave, where no repentance, nor acts of pardon are 
known. But this is the day of grace. Tins is the hour 
of pardon. There is a great Redeemer, the Lamb of 
God, who taketh away the sin of the world. And if we 
confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin. 



-§oite j^Iragjito. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE JAW-BONE SLAUGHTER. 



• " My life hath heen a combat, 



And every thought a -wound, till I am scarr'd 
In the immortal part of me." — Manfred. 

" And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done 
this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will 
cease. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great 
slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the top of 
the rock Etam;" The reader will please read the fif- 
teenth chapter of Judges from the seventh verse to the 
end. Homer's heroes were never at a loss for weapons, 
for wjth whatever kind of arms they began to fight, they 
always finished by throwing stones. The " fierce Tydides" 
scrupled not to throw a rocky fragment so great that two 
men in the degenerate days of the poet could not raise 
it against a foe ; and 

" Where to the hip the inserted thigh unites, 
Full on the bone the pointed marble lights ; 
Through both the tendons broke the rugged stone, 
And stripped the skin and crack'd the solid bone." 

Iliad, Lib. v : 375-378. 

The traveller from Thun to Grindelwald in the Ber- 
nese Alps, is shown to this day the huge stones with 
which the Swiss Samsons have been wont to amuse 



222 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

themselves. They are not so large, it is true, as the 
mountains which the giants are fabled to have plucked 
up and used as javelins in their wars ; but they are of 
very " considerable size." 

The learned give various explanations of this hip and 
thigh slaughter. Good critics say that the text literally 
means, that in their running away from Samson, he 
kicked them down, and then trod them to death ; and 
thus his leg or thigh was against their hip. Some say 
that Samson's fighting was after the method of Greek 
wrestling or African tripping and tumbling. Others will 
have it, that " hip and thigh " is the Hebrew way of say- 
ing hors de combat ; and others still more liberal render 
it, he defeated them " horse, foot and dragoons "; and 
still further, some think the meaning is, that their cavalry 
becoming unmanageable, the horses trampled them to 
death, crushing their heads, arms and bodies under their 
feet, and thus the horse's hoofs broke their thighs. But 
it is not historically proven that horses were in use at 
this time in Palestine. I do not know of a better trans- 
lation of the passage than the following from a Genevan 
minister, already referred to several times in this volume, 
John Diodati : " He made a great slaughter without any 
weapons, hurling them against the ground with spurns 
and with thrusts with his knees." Gesenius considers 
the phrase as a proverbial expression, meaning that he 
smote them with a great slaughter, cutting them all to 
pieces and scattering their limbs promiscuously. It was 
certainly a most extraordinary battle. One, and he 
unarmed, contending with many thousands, and these 
thousands covered with armor and fighting with their 
chosen weapons. But it is probable the fear of the Lord 



THE PRINCIPLE OF HIS KILLING. 223 

fell on them as soon as Samson began to deal his terrific 
blows, so that in their panic they trampled down, and 
bruised and rendered unfit for service even a greater 
number than were killed outright. Though translators 
differ as to the application of some of the words found 
in this passage, all agree hi the general meaning. Pro- 
verbial phrases are always hard to explain after the 
language in which they have their origin ceases to be a 
living tongue. 

It is much more important to notice the principle on 
which Samson acted than to explain how he smote them. 
The history of this fight is brief. We are not told how, nor 
on what account they met. Generally Samson's move- 
ments against the Philistines were aggressive ; but here, I 
think they attacked him. No doubt they were always 
ready for any opportunity to seize his person, or to kill 
him. But when they came upon him he slew them " hip 
and thigh with a great slaughter." He was not acting as 
a mere private person, even if he were entirely alone. 
He was the chief magistrate, and commissioned from 
heaven to execute divine sentence upon the Philistines. 

And he dwelt in the top) of the rock Etam. From 
1 Chron. iv : 3, 33 and 2 Chron. xi : 6, it would seem 
that Rehoboam built a fortress, or fortified a town near the 
rock Etam, which was called by the same name. This 
place was within the territory of Judah, between Tekoah 
and Bethlehem. And according to Josephus, who calls 
it Hethan, it was fifteen miles from Jerusalem. The 
rock probably gave name to the town, and was famous 
for its natural strength, or safety as a place of retreat. 
David sought refuge often in the caves of Engedi, (Ain 
Jiddy). The strongholds of the hill country of Judea, 



224 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

were its caves and holes in the rocks. 1 Sam., chapters 
xxiii and xxiv. 

In the millitary operations of the French in Africa a 
few years since, a number of Arabs took shelter in a 
rock cavern, and so ably defended themselves, that they 
had at last to be destroyed by making a tire in the cave's 
mouth. In 1634 when the Sultan ordered the Bashaw 
of Damascus to make the rebel Emir Faccardine a pris- 
oner, the latter shut himself up in the hollow of a great 
rock, with a small number of his officers. The Bashaw 
besieged him several months, but at last when he had 
made all necessary preparations to blow up the rock, the 
Emir surrendered. 

From the twentieth verse — "And he judged Israel in 
the days of the Philistines twenty years," — it is to be 
inferred that during all his administration the Philistines 
were troublesome. It was his mission only to begin the 
deliverance of his people. The Philistines were har- 
assed and weakened, but not wholly overcome. Their 
yoke was not broken till the days of David. 

While Samson is in the cave of the rock Etam his 
countrymen appear to have been in a very humiliating 
condition. We have found that at a subsequent period 
they were inferior to the Philistines as manufacturers, 
and obliged to go to them to get their axes and coulters 
sharpened. They appear here inferior also as warriors, 
and except when led by some champion under miracu- 
lous impulses, they were not able to stand before them 
in battle. From the confession of the men of Judah in 
the eleventh verse, it is clear their spirit was broken, 
and their heart was as water. Their only desire was to 
escape farther annoyance from the Philistines by making 



SAMSON BOUND AT ETAM. 225 

Samson their prisoner. They were more anxious to sac- 
rifice him to their enemies than to follow him in a glori- 
ous struggle to victory or death. After the evidence 
they had of his power to deliver them, their pusillanimity 
seems almost incredible. 

Why are ye come up against us ? said the men of Judah 
to the Philistines. We pay our tribute punctually : we 
have committed no new offense. True ; said the lordly 
Philistines, we have no new cause of complaint against 
you. But there is a Hebrew harbored among you, or 
dwelling in your territory, who has done us a great deal 
of mischief. To bind Samson are we come up, to do to 
him, as he hath done to us. And then the men of Judah, 
three thousand strong, went to the top of the rock Etam 
to bind Samson to deliver him into the hands of the Phil- 
istines. Shame, ye men of Judah ! Why did you not 
rather put your giant judge, Jehovah's lieutenant-general, 
at the head of your forces, and strike a blow for God 
and liberty ? And they said to Samson, Do you not know 
that we are under the yoke of the Philistines, and that 
we are not able to shake it off ! Why then are you con- 
tinually insulting and provoking them ? Do you not 
know that we must smart for all your provocations ? 
But now mark the hero's reply. He speaks with becom- 
ing magnanimity. He does not upbraid them as he 
might very justly have done for their want of honor and 
courage ; but generously forbearing all reproach, stipu- 
lates only that they shall not lay hands on him them- 
selves. I have done to them, says Samson, only as they 
have done unto me. But swear unto me, that ye will 
not fall upon me yourselves, and you may bind me, and 
deliver me into their hands. 



226 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

Samson must have been strongly posted to render it 
necessary for so large a force to come to take him, or 
they must have had a most extraordinary idea of his 
strength and courage. It is a mooted point with com- 
mentators whether he had a bodyguard of tried men, or 
was alone. I should think from the nature of his office 
and from this whole history that he was alone, and with- 
out any warrior band. But I see no reason why he 
could not have delivered himself from the men of Judah, 
as easily as he did soon afterwards from the Philistines, 
except that he had no divine commission to kill his 
countrymen. Nor is there any evidence that he had any 
wish ever to imbue his hand in their blood. His mis- 
sion was specific. Nor can I find any justifiable excuse 
for his cousins, the men of Judah. The Philistines were 
their oppressors. They were the enemies of their fathers 
and of their religion. God had raised up Samson to be 
a deliverer. Why then did they not now strike for their 
altars and their sires, their wives and their little ones ? 
Instead of this, with craven heart, they bind their God- 
sent champion, who voluntarily surrenders himself to 
them, to deliver him into the hands of the Philistines. It 
was nothing that Samson was not of their tribe. He was 
a Hebrew. It was nothing that Washington was of Vir- 
ginia rather than of Massachusetts. He toas an Ameri- 
can. And we, though of different states, are all Americans. 
We have one father, one constitution and one destiny. 

In the stipulation also that they would not fall upon him 
themselves, there is still greater shame. I am painfully 
aware that some excuses are alleged for their not rally- 
ing to his standard that are not altogether groundless. 
It is said, that Samson was not really a fit leader, because 



samson's strength miraculous. 227 

his intellect was weak and his character sadly inconsist- 
ent. Though of gigantic physical strength, his character 
was not well balanced. But was his intellect weak in 
the inverse ratio that his body was strong? Now even 
if we admit that such is the ordinary law of mankind, it 
does not follow that it must have been true in his case. 
For as has already been remarked, Samson does not 
appear to have been of gigantic stature, nor to have had 
gigantic strength, except when the Spirit of the Lord 
moved him. That he was naturally strong, and of pow- 
erful muscle, we admit ; but. his great strength was 
miraculous. It could not therefore have impaired his 
mind on the principle suggested above. It is true that 
great physical powers are sometimes possessed by those 
who have but little mental energy, and less moral char- 
acter ; but has any law of nature been discovered making 
a large man or a strong man a bad man ? If a strong 
body must be the dwelling of a weak mind, we have 
been erroneously taught — that the perfect man is a sound 
mind in a sound body. We admit that Samson's mental 
energy and moral sense strike us as dwarfish in compari- 
son with his great bodily strength, Not to such a degree, 
however, as to excuse the men of Judah for not trusting 
in him as God's agent. Though a strong man, Samson 
was not a truly great man. Speaking from our starting- 
point of his history, we should say, his attacks upon the 
Philistines were badly planned, and the results wholly 
insignificant. He was a man sadly wanting in self-con- 
trol, mental discipline, and refinement of conscience. 
His two great passions were love and revenge, and both 
always directed towards the same people, and both badly 
managed. He seems to have done nothing towards the 



228 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

accomplishment of his great mission, except when under 
some supernatural impulse. The victories of Barak, 
Gideon and Jepthah near his own time, were of more 
enduring brilliancy and effect. The fact is Samson was 
not the man he ought to have been. He suffered his sen- 
suality to mar his otherwise greatness of character. His 
own countrymen did not rally to his standard. They 
had not confidence in him. His character was so spas- 
modic, he acted so by fits and starts, that they distrusted 
his prudence. And are they much to be blamed for 
withholding their confidence from a man who was so often 
the slave of his own senses ? A pretty face or a few 
tears were quite enough to unman him. He was a 
teetotaler in one way, but very intemperate in another. 
If wine did not ruin him, women did. The elders of 
Judah and the warriors of his own tribe might then well 
hesitate to risk their fortunes and lives under the com- 
/ mand of one, who could repeatedly sacrifice the most 
important interests to a woman's sighs and reveal his holy 
secret at the importunities of a quasi wife. 

The utter worthlessness of the two new cords is very 
strongly expressed in the original. His bands loosed ; 
that is, melted from his hands. They became as jlax 
that was burnt with Jire. That is, they were like flaxen 
ropes burnt, still retaining their coil and shape, but 
without strength ; mere cinders, which as soon as touched, 
fall to pieces. So worthless were the two new cords 
with which they bound Samson fast, when the Spirit of 
the Lord came mightily upon him. 

Listen now to the savage yells of the Philistine hosts 
as they saw the great Hebrew bound and coming to 
them from the rock from which they were not able to 



THE NEW JAW-BONE. 229 

fetch him. But their shout was his signal for action. 
Rending the new cords as burnt flax, " he found a new 
jaw-bone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, 
and slew a thousand men therewith." The new of the 
text is applied by some, not to the jaw-bone, but to the 
carcass, and rendered tabid or putrid. If so, then the 
idea is, that the body being in a putrid state, he could 
the more easily separate the bone from the integuments, 
and thus procure such a bone as would be most fit for 
execution. But if the term new is applied to the body, 
it is also true of the jaw-bone, and its being new was of 
importance, for it was therefore heavy and tough. It 
would bear harder blows without breaking. And never 
was there a more terrible weapon than this jaw-bone in 
Samson's hand. Never did an ass's jaw-bone do such 
service since the foundation of the world. 

The sixteenth verse is Samson's, pean, or hymn of 
triumph. Though rather a silent man, and heretofore 
as modest as brave, there is nothing censurable in his 
singing after the manner of his times a stanza, in com- 
memoration of his own exploits. 

" With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps. 
With the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men." 

The beauty and force of this verse can hardly be appre- 
ciated without a knowledge of the original, where we 
have a paranomasia on the. identity of the terms for ass 
and a heap. The point seems to be in Samson's saying, 
that the Philistines fell under his blows with the jaw- 
bone of an ass, as tamely as if they themselves had 
been stupid asses — "heaps upon heaps." 

"A thousand'''' here is not necessarily to be under- 



230 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

stood as a definite number, but denoting a great many. 
The young women in singing David's praises when he 
came as " the conquering hero " from the killing of 
Goliah, said, he hath slain his " tens of thousands," 
when in fact he had killed but one person. He was, it 
is true, a giant, who was worth ten thousand common 
Philistines. To have slain so many with a Damascus 
blade would have been a prodigious feat ; what then shall 
we say of its being done with the jaw-bone of an ass ? 
No doubt, fear helped him. The Philistines seeing 
Samson's cords broken, remembering what he had done 
at Askelon, and struck with terror at the tremendous 
execution of his giant arm ; and expecting that now all 
the armed thousands of Judah would join him, and that 
they would all be dead men, they fled, and in their dis- 
orderly flight many of them were killed. The victory, 
however, was not in the weapon, nor in Samson's arm, 
nor because of the Philistines' terror. It was God that 
nerved his heart and strengthened his arm. The armed 
men of Judah could have furnished Samson with a 
sword ; but greater contempt was cast upon these idola- 
ters by laying them " heaps upon heaps " with a jaw- 
bone. 

And called that place Ramath-Lehi. Twice before it 
is called Lehi by anticipation. Lehi was used for brev- 
ity's sake. Such contractions were common with He- 
brew proper names. Jerusalem was called also Salem. 
Ramath-Lehi means " the hill of the jaw-bone," or " the 
casting away of the jaw-bone." For here he cast away 
the jaw-bone out of his hand. He did not value this 
singular, but exceedingly effective weapon as much as 
Sir Walter Scott did Rob Roy's long gun, which is to 



THE INVOCATION WELL. 231 

be seen in the armory of Abbottsford. Samson was not 
a good collector of relics. That new-old-jaw-bone 
would be a fortune in our day. 

The excessive thirst of which he expected to die, or 
to be obliged to surrender to the Philistines, was the 
natural consequence of excessive fatigue. Josephus 
thinks this dreadful thirst was brought on him for his 
pride, in not acknowledging God in his triumphal song. 
Heaps upon heaps, I have slain a thousand men, said 
he ; but not a word of praise to Jehovah for helping 
him. God was not recognized in the affair at all. Like 
Nebuchadnezzar, saying, Is not this great Babylon that 
I have built ? And the judgment of God fell on him 
from heaven till he was humbled to acknowledge the 
sovereignty of the Most High. Whether this is the 
proper explanation of Samson's thirst or not, pride is a 
great sin, and high looks are an abomination to the 
Lord. 

But God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw- 
bone, and there came water thereout. Here is an error 
in our translation. The fountain of water was not in 
the jaw-bone. The mistake of our translators, who are 
generally so correct, was doubtless made in this way : 
The same Hebrew word is rendered both Lehi, a proper 
name, and also jaw-bone. The mistake therefore was 
in confounding the name of the place for the instru- 
ment of the victory from which the place derived its 
name. The meaning is, God clave a hollow place of 
the rock or earth at Lehi, and a fountain gushed forth 
and continued to flow up to the time of the writing of 
the history. And in memory of the deliverance, the 
fountain was called En-hak-kore, that is, the well af 'him 



232 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

that cried; "Invocation well." Tradition still points 
out the stream that gushed from the grotto of Lehi for 
the refreshing of the Hebrew warrior. 

We close this chapter with a lesson from the shouting 
of the Philistines on the eve of their terrible slaughter. 
Their defiant shout was the knell of their complete 
overthrow. And it is still true that a dreadful sound is 
in the ears of the wicked : in prosperity the destroyer 
shall come upon him. Job xv : 21. The triumphing 
of the ungodly is short. Their prosperity is their de- 
struction. Had there been as many devils as there 
were Philistines, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon 
Samson, he would have turned their shoutings into wail- 
ings quite as easily. Never are the ungodly more to be 
pitied than when their prospects seem to be the bright- 
est. Their fancied security is their ruin. We are told 
that more vessels are lost in a fair gale than in tempests. 
Nothing is so much to be feared as a sinner's apparent 
peace. Present impunity does not argue the abatement 
of the divine wrath. The delays of providence do not 
change the nature of sin. It remains intrinsically the 
abominable thing that God hates. In the very nature 
of things it is impossible that sin should any where or at 
any time meet with his approbation. The patience of 
God does not therefore imply any mitigation of the 
enormity of wrong-doing. It is no proof of divine indif- 
ference to sin, that God does not instantly express his 
abhorrence of it, and pour out his wrath upon the 
offender. Men may kindle immediately into a trans- 
port of jpassion when insulted ; but God is not a man, 
and therefore we are not consumed. He punishes sin, 
not from passion, but from principle — not to revenge 



EVIL DOING A JUDGMENT. 233 

himself for any injury he sustains from sin, but in order 
to maintain a righteous government — such a government 
as is necessary for the happiness of his creatures.- Such 
an administration is also agreeable to his infinite holi- 
ness. And the punishment of sin will only be the more 
severe, because of the aggravations of abused mercy. 
Delay in a human government may lessen the certainty 
of punishment, by leaving room for escape, or for the 
loss of opportunity or ability for inflicting the punish- 
ment ; but it is never so with God. One day is with 
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one clay. There is, then, no statute of limitation tvithin 
which process against the sinner must begin, or ivithin 
which his cause must be tried and the sentence executed. 
Nay, though the final sentence against an evil work is 
sometimes delayed, and therefore the hearts of men are 
more fully set to evil, still the accusation begins in most 
cases immediately. Conscience speaks out. Violated 
laws plead against the transgressor, and his ways are 
found to be hard. Evil doing is itself a judgment. And the 
delay to execute the sentence against evil doing is some- 
times a part of the sentence. The delay, if not im- 
proved, is not a blessing. As in divine mercies, the 
rule is grace upon grace, one favor received thankfully, 
drawing another, so it is with punishments ; if not im- 
proved — one stroke draws down another. It were often 
a great mercy to arrest the guilty in their career of 
crime. There is something awful in being given over 
to blindness of mind and hardness of heart, to treasure 
up wrath against the day of wrath, by abusing the long- 
suffering, and patience, and goodness of God. The 
men of Judah were restrained from laying their hands 



234 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

upon Samson. And the Philistines in shouting for joy 
at his surrender, were not able to touch him. Wicked 
men are often not so bad as they would be, if they were 
not restrained. They are not more cruel, simply be- 
cause they cannot be. Even in Samson's forbearance 
towards his own countrymen, there was a divine hand. 
He was sent against the Philistines, and would not 
therefore touch his spiritless countrymen. O that men 
would remember that a thing is not good simply because 
it seems to prosper, but because it is according to the 
will of God. That only is rigid which God commands. 
Sin is evil, not because it is punished, but because it is 
disobedience — it is something forbidden. Any delay, 
therefore, of sentence against evil doers, instead of en- 
couraging them to continue in sin, should melt them to 
penitential sorrow. Instead of lulling them into secu- 
rity, it ought to alarm them. Nothing but pardon secures 
their safety. No length of time, nor flight, nor distance 
from the place of sinning can give any true relief. 
Nothing but pardon can save the sinner. Pie must be 
forgiven, or sink to endless perdition. But there is for- 
giveness with God, that he may be feared. He that 
confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy. . 



Clje ^reabftfl Relapse ixm flftam* 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE DREADEUL RELAPSE EROM ETAM. 



But what availed this temperance, not complete, 



Against another object more enticing ? 
What boots it at one gate to make defense, 
And at another to let in the foe ?" — Samson. 



In the first three verses of the sixteenth chapter of 
Judges, we have a brief account of Samson's visit to 
Gaza, and of what befel him there. Then tvent Samson 
to Gaza, a city about sixty miles southwest from Jeru- 
salem, and only a few miles from Askelon. It is one of 
the oldest cities in the world, and is always represented 
in the Old Testament as a place of considerable import- 
ance. It was once a city of great wealth. The present 
town is beautifully situated on a hill, amidst gardens of 
olive and date trees. The houses are mostly of stone, 
but its inhabitants are poor. Its chief articles of trade 
are cotton and soap. 

The Hebrew term zonah, and its corresponding one in 
Greek, pome, which is applied to the woman of Gaza, 
is a word of uncertain signification. Our word harlot is 
not a word of doubtful meaning, but the Hebrew zonah 
is not always its equivalent. There is nothing in the 



238 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

history of Rahab that renders it probable that she was 
a woman of bad reputation. She entertained the He- 
brew spies, and afterwards became the wife of the 
Hebrew prince Salmon. Matt, i : 5. She was an inn- 
keeper. If the term zonah, then, was ever applied to 
her in a bad sense, it must have belonged to a previous 
period of her life, for there is no evidence, nor any 
probability that she was an abandoned woman at the 
time the Hebrew spies entered Jericho. Naturally, as 
strangers, and on a mission of so much peril and import- 
ance, they would seek a house of private entertainment, 
such as Rahab kept. The Chaldee calls the woman that 
Samson lodged with an innkeeper. Schleusner says the 
word may mean one that prepares and sells food, and 
receives strangers to entertain them. Some think it 
means an idolatress, because women that were idola- 
tresses were often of an abandoned character. And 
some contend that this Gazite woman was not the host- 
ess at all, but that Samson met her accidentally at the 
inn where he stopt. And it must be remembered, also, 
that in those times female innkeepers trafficked with 
their personal charms at the same time that they enter- 
tained travelers. 

The original for harlot is, then, not without difficulty ; 
and it may be almost rash to hazard an opinion where 
there is a difference between so many learned men. But 
in view of all the authorities within my reach, I conclude 
our translators are correct ; and consequently this woman 
was not Samson's wife, and his conduct at Gaza is a 
most painful specimen of imperfect morality, and full of 
warning. Truly there is no man so deep but he has 
some shallow place. 



WHY IS SAMSON IN GAZA. 239 

The previous chapter is full of adventure, but the 
vicissitudes of our hero are by no means ended, though 
it is twenty years since his victory with the jaw-bone, 
and his deliverence from dying thirst at Lehi ; still we 
find trouble following trouble, and no wisdom gleaned 
from the past. His last years do not bear scrutiny as 
well as his earlier ones. Considering his mission, and 
his relation to the Philistines, it is difficult to understand 
his motives for going into one of their principal cities. 
It can hardly be supposed that his meeting with the 
Gazite woman was anything more than accidental. To 
see her could not have been the main purpose for which 
he went to. Gaza. As he must have been well known, 
it is passing strange that he should have trusted himself 
in one of their strongholds, and then should have behaved 
so imprudently. How could one of his stalwart frame — 
whose name was a raw-head-and-bloody-bones in all the 
village stories of Philistia — and of Nazarite hair and 
beard, have expected to escape notice ? It was scarcely 
necessary for any one from Askelon or Timnath to have 
pointed him out. At all events, it was soon whispered 
in the streets of Gaza that Samson was come ; and, 
either because they did not know just where to find him, 
or being afraid to seize him at once, they set sentinels at 
the gates. They now felt sure that they had caged the 
lion, and Samson, though not where he should have 
been, was not insensible to danger. Aroused at mid- 
night by the whispering and gathering in the streets, 
and suspecting what was intended, he proceeds straight 
to the gates, and carries away the doors and posts upon 
his shoulders. The guards were either terror smitten, 
and not able to face him, or were asleep. They made 



240 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

no resistance, and lie seems to have had too much con- 
tempt for the gate to kick it down, or too much refine- 
ment, for he lifts it off by mere force, and lays it on his 
shoulders, and carries it away to the top of a hill towards 
Hebron. The doors of Bible lands are not shaped into 
an arch, nor fitted into the wall or facing as with us. 
They had not our hinges. The door fell into sockets 
below, and was fastened in a projecting bracket above. 
Such were the doors of Egypt and of the Holy Land. 
The sepulchres of the Nile and of Jerusalem are proof; 
and a knowledge of this fact explains the anxious inquiry 
of the devout women coming to our Lord's tomb, " Who 
shall roll us away the stone ? " That is, lift it out of the 
groove or socket. The great difficulty in opening such 
doors was their vjeight. Samson's strength must, there- 
fore, have been prodigious, since, according to the text, 
he lifted the heavy town gate, bars, brackets, beams, 
posts and all, and carried them to the top of a distant 
hill. The text does not mean that he carried the city 
gate all the way to Hebron, which was at least twenty 
miles from Gaza ; literally, " to the top of a hill which 
looketh towards Hebron ;" but we cannot now identify it. 
These brief historical notes are perhaps sufficient to 
explain the text. Let us, then, pause with two histori- 
cal periods before us, and review our story from the top 
of the rock Etam, and from the top of the hill towards 
Hebron, where Samson put down the gate of Gaza. 
These two historic points comprehend twenty years of 
his life, and a review of them is a fearful warning to all 
fitful professors of religion, and to all backsliders. Here 
we see a character great and marvelous for supernatural 
exploits, spoiled, through a spiritual relapse, and by 




SAMSON CARRYING AWAY THE GATES OF GAZA 

- And Samson lay till midnight, and aros at midnight, and took the doors of 
the gate of the city upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of an 
hill that is before Hebron. ' ' Page 240. 



samson's mother inquiring. 241 

inconsistencies. Remarkable as is the heroic age of 
Israel's judges, Samson is certainly the most remarkable 
of them all. And after all we scarcely get a clear view 
of his inner life. So thick and heavy are the clouds 
that hang over him, that if an apostle had not given him 
a place among spiritual heroes, we should have despaired 
of him altogether. It is true, however, and in this there 
is hope, that amid all his fearful backslidings, he never 
seems to have forgotten his commission against the Phil- 
istines. His conscience was kept faithful to this behest 
by his own passionate hatred of them. But this is only 
another proof of God's sovereignty, which maketh the 
wrath of man to praise him, even as the appetite and 
relish for our food proves his wisdom and benevolence. 
It was not enough to make food nourish us ; God has 
made it agreeable to us. So he is pleased to make our 
duty and our interest in the long run lie in the same 
line. Duty is pleasure. 

While Samson dwelt in Etam, I take it there was a 
revival of grace in his soul. If so, it was a most criti- 
cal and deeply interesting period in his life. Suppose 
we climb up to the top of the rock, and from his retreat 
look back to the home of his innocent youth at Zorah, 
and inquire how his mother takes all these things. Ah, 
his mother ; is she yet alive ? Then how many conflict- 
ing fears and hopes must have filled her mind ! Myste- 
rious and wholly inexplicable events have marked her 
son's life. She remembers well the angel's bright 
appearance, and how he rode up towards heaven on the 
smoke of their accepted sacrifice, as if it had been a 
chariot — and how earnestly she had been commanded to 
demean herself, and to bring up the child as one preem- 

K 



242 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

inently consecrated to God, and to be a deliverer of the 
chosen people. She thinks over and over his strange 
fancy for the woman of Timnath, and how it was not at 
all agreeable to her and her husband, that he should 
marry a Philistine, but that they submitted, hoping it 
was of the Lord. She is now, too, acquainted with the 
lion adventure, the bees, and the honey. She recollects 
the wedding ceremonies, feasting, and riddles, the divorce 
and the terrible tragedies at Askelon and at Timnath. 
She wonders how all this is to fulfill his mission. She 
hopes, as only a parent can hope ; a thousand times does 
she think over the past, and try to read the future ; a 
thousand times did she interrogate herself, saying, Can 
this be my Nazarite boy ? Are these things realities, or 
visions and dreams ? Where are they all to end ? When 
will the mystery be explained ? O how I loved that 
child ! What great hopes I entertained of him ! If she 
had not been a mother of faith and principle equal to 
her comprehension and penetration of judgment, she 
could not have sustained herself under such trials. 

But what of the hero himself? Think you he retired 
in "disgust from the hip and thigh slaughter? Or did he 
dwell in the top of the rock Etam for safety ? Or after 
the manner of the lion, having torn as many struggling 
victims as he could, did he leave them mangled and dying, 
and seek this solitary abode to gloat over his satisfied 
revenge ? Or did he go up to Etam sulky and proud, 
like Achilles to his tent on the ^ZEgean shore ? Or like 
a wild Bedouin or Camanche, having revenged his 
wrongs, does he seek his mountain home, to scowl defi- 
ance upon his pursuers from his impregnable fortress ? 
There may have been a mingling of some of these feel- 



WHY HE DWELLS IN ETAM. 243 

ings in his breast, when he went up to Etam ; but I think 
his purpose was to escape for a time from all worldly 
excitements. He was weary of the battle ? He felt 
his life to be a mystery. He was astonished both at his 
successes and his short comings. He saw the mighty 
power of God in his victories, and his goodness in his 
own deliverance. He wished, therefore, for a sheltered 
place — for a quiet and safe retreat for prayer and medi- 
tation. Impetuous as he was — tumultuous as his life 
had been — he was not thoughtless. He has not w T holly 
escaped from the influence of his mother's early lessons, 
and his father's fervent prayers. He still feels that 
Nazarite vows are upon him, and though painfully con- 
scious of many sad failures in duty, he has still a deep 
yearning of soul toward God, and an earnest desire to 
fulfill his mission, so as to secure the divine approbation. 
There is with him still space for repentance, and for 
renewing of his vows. In his retirement, conscious of 
his many failures, restless thoughts, " Like a deadly 
swarm of hornets armed," must have often rushed upon 
him. Piety, patriotism, and personal feelings were all 
working together in him to fulfill his mission. For we 
must not suppose that God's Spirit is easily discouraged, 
and departs wholly from a man when he falls once, or 
even several times, into sin. There is, indeed, a sin 
unto death, a sin for which no prayer or sacrifice can 
avail, for which there is no forgiveness. There is a 
point of rebellion beyond which no pardon can be 
extended. God's Spirit does sometimes cease to strive 
with men. Ephraim may be left to his idols, because he 
would not leave them. Men may quench and grieve 
away the Spirit of God by which they might be sealed 



244 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

to the day of redemption. But the general rule is, that 
God's long-suffering is as apparent as his sovereignty. 
He bears long with the children of men. The Holy 
Spirit does not abandon the sinner for a slight offense ; 
and sometimes we see a spiritual resurrection after many 
long years of apparent death. The good seed sown lies 
long under the cold snows that have fallen from the 
mountains, but it has not perished. Wordly entangle- 
ments and passions have bound it up like the pitched 
mummy cloths of Egypt ; but the seed still has the liv- 
ing germ within it ; and at last it springs up in the soul, 
and blooms into eternal life, it may be, long after the 
careful parent that sowed it in faith, and watered it with 
many tears, has entered into rest. Sometimes, also, we 
see the piety of youth reviving, and again budding, after 
it has seemed to have suffered a grievous blight, and 
even to have been uprooted forever. 

Dear parent, after all the frustration of your hopes — 
after repeated disappointments, hope on — never despair 
— the root to this very hour that you have planted and 
watered, though it be long in sprouting, may continue 
alive ; and yet, " through the scent of water it may bud." 

We shall do well, also, to remember that it is not 
without affliction that youthful piety is generally recov- 
ered after a relapse. The forcing heat of a furnace may 
be required, after years of decline, to make the tree 
" sprout again and send forth its boughs as a plant." It 
is not the mere scent of water, nor the ordinary shower, 
nor the ordinary gleams of sunshine, that can revive the 
plant and make it live in freshness. It is often only the 
furnace of affliction that can bring us back from back- 
slidings. 



samson's gracious experiences. 245 

I apprehend Samson's experience of grace was not 
miraculous. Believers in all ages are liable to tempta- 
tions and relapses. None of them are saints upon earth. 
The representative or official character of the judges, 
prophets and apostles is not to be confounded with their 
personal piety ; and consequently, their experience as 
believers is to be considered as a fair ensample for us — 
their experience of the grace of God — their penitence 
and faith — their hopes and trials — are to be considered 
as if they were merely believers, and apart from their 
official characters. David and Paul as individuals be- 
lieved and repented, and were subject to like conflicts 
with ourselves. The same is true of Moses and Sam- 
son. When Moses killed the Egyptian, he fled to the 
wilderness. An undefined future lay before him. He 
followed his natural feelings, but was most graciously 
guided. There, in " meditative solitudes," he communed 
with God, and pondered over the condition of his coun- 
trymen, until the hour came for him to be commissioned 
to deliver them. And Samson in like manner, not find- 
ing his countrymen sympathizing with him — finding 
that they did not rally around him, and say, lead us 
against the Philistines ; the Lord is with you ; he has 
raised you up to be a judge in Israel, and an avenger of 
his people — finding that they were so degraded that they 
would not second his efforts for their deliverance, and 
somewhat, no doubt, with the same kind of feelings that 
Moses had, when he broke the tables of the law — he 
betook himself to retirement in the rock Etam. 

I therefore conclude that then, in the beginning of the 
sixteenth chapter, does not mean that he went to Gaza, 
and made himself vile immediately after the great deliv- 



246 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

erance God had wrought for him at Lehi. Surely a 
considerable time must have elapsed after such an expe- 
rience of God's goodness, before he could have fallen 
into such a quagmire. Then here seems to indicate that 
at or near to the end of his administration of twenty 
years, he went to Gaza, and soon after to Sorek. His 
exploit at Lehi awed the Philistines so that for some 
twenty years they were comparatively quiet. The time 
that intervened between Samson at Lehi and Samson 
fallen at Gaza, adds to his guilt, for he must now have 
been about forty years of age, and of a varied experience, 
and should have been more on his guard than to have 
fallen into the toils of the Gazite woman. In his fall, 
we see that besetting sins are deceitful and die hardly. 
They have as many lives as a cat. When we are ready 
to suppose them dead, a slight occurrence may awaken 
them to a vigorous life. In our narrative there is an 
ominous silence as to how Samson was employed for 
almost twenty years. All this time he did nothing. It 
is no wonder then that his inner man has fallen into con- 
sumption. And as is always the case, in the proportion 
that his spiritual life grew weaker and weaker, his sen- 
sual grew stronger and stronger, until his constitutionally 
besetting lust broke forth again, as a fire that has only 
been smoldering, when it was supposed to have been 
extinguished. There is no truce in the war between the 
flesh and the spirit. The one or the other is prevailing. 
If the house of David waxes stronger, then the house of 
Saul grows weaker. And the reverse is just as true. 
Samson's inner life is no doubt the exact type of thou- 
sands now. Many suppose when they have experi- 
enced some special deliverances as Samson did at Lehi, 



HOW THE CITADEL IS TAKEN. 247 

and have had some evidence of the grace of God, that 
their besetting sins are overcome ; when in fact, they 
have only retired, and are waiting in ambush just beyond 
gun shot, till an opportunity is presented, for them to 
return and take the fort by storm, as Samson's did with 
him at Gaza. It were well, to learn from Samson's sad 
experience to be on our guard against besetting sins, 
especially of the grosser kind. And there is the more 
need for watchfulness against the lusts of the flesh, because 
they are favored in their approaches to the citadel of the 
heart and conscience by many less constitutional sins, or 
sins- less suspected of being so flagrant and vile, which, 
however, when indulged prepare the way for their return, 
and for their violent onset. In the presence of professed 
friends, the excitement of good feeling, your own self 
confidence, a sense of security, and obscuration of divine 
holiness, a faint view of God's law, and the strong plead- 
ings of nature within — then is the moment when consti- 
tutional sinful propensities arouse themselves with a 
fearfully increased fierceness. And it is just in this 
manner and by such' slow approaches, and by such care- 
fully prepared entrenchments the heart is taken. Let 
all who fancy themselves secure, remember the dreadful 
warning of Peter — "that if after having escaped the 
pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled 
therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them 
than the beginning." 

The triumphing of Samson's baser passions at Gaza 
and Sorek was most certainly preceded by a decaying, 
consumptive state of his religious character. His piety 
had almost withered away before he went to Gaza. And 



248 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

it is always thus. One sin leads the way to another. 
A decay of spiritual life allows greater liberty to the 
lusts of the flesh. Indolence, gluttony, worldliness, drunk- 
eness and the pampering of any of the lusts of the flesh 
are all of kin. They are links in the same hellward 
dragging chain. The entanglement is not perfected all 
at once. Absence from the prayer meeting follows the 
neglect of closet prayer. And a growing neglect of 
divine worship is followed by a want of relish for God's 
word, and by a listlessness or want of interest in religious 
matters, and by a greater degree of pleasure in worldly 
things ; and now the way is fully prepared for carnal 
nature to rise in rebellion, and with a fiercer frenzy be- 
cause of its long apparent quiescence or imprisonment, 
seize on the spoils. The course of backsliding is fear- 
fully rapid and agonizing in the end. Please read Eph. 
vi : 10-18 ; and Col. iii: 1-15. Let him that think- 

ETH HE STANDETH TAKE HEED LEST HE FALL. 



Cjre Jfatel Sleep m Jelflajfs f a$. 



K' 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE FATAL SLEEP IN DELILAH'S LAP. 

il At length to lay my head and hallow'd pledge 
Of all m}' strength in the lascivious lap 
Of a deceitful concubine, who shore me 
Like a tame wether, all my precious fleeces, 
Then turn'd me out, ridiculous, despoil'd, 
Shaven, and disarm'd among mine enemies." 

/Samson's Confession. 

From the fourth and following verses of the sixteenth 
chapter, we have Samson's next adventure. It is with a 
celebrated beauty of great historic interest, belonging to 
the vale of Sorek, which probably took its name from 
the brook that ran through it and fell into the sea near 
Askelon. This vale was rich and populous, and prob- 
ably occupied by the best class of the Philistines. 
The myrtle, the vine, acacia, oleander, olive, pomegran- 
ate and orange were familiar to the eyes of the beautiful 
Delilah. Milton ignores the woman of Gaza altogether, 
nor is there any reason to believe she was Samson's 
wife. But in all his love affairs there is a singular dis- 
regard for the daughters of his own people.* And this 



*"Le foiblesse du coeur de Samson, dans toute cette histoire, est encore 
plus etonnante que la force de son corps."— Calmet. 



252 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

may be one reason why his " course of love " never ran 
smoothly. " He always matched improperly, and he 
was cursed in all his matches." His conduct now, how- 
ever, is the more mysterious, because he is no longer the 
young lover, " sighing like a furnace ; " but of mature 
years and experience — the same man who went down 
to Timnath some twenty years ago, as strong in muscle, 
but weaker in character. And though his enemies 
could not find out what constituted his great strength, 
they were not slow in discovering where his weakness 
lay ; and as ordinary measures had not enabled them to 
get the secret of his strength, they resolved to overreach 
him through his fondness for a woman of their own 
nation. 

Of Delilah's father and mother, education and pre- 
vious character, we know nothing. And I believe she 
is never mentioned in the Scriptures after her connec- 
tion with Samson. We do not know what became of 
her. The name Delilah is believed to signify humilia- 
tion, bringing down to shame, that which humbles and 
debases. We are not able, however, to explain how her 
parents happened to give her at birth a name so truly 
significant and prophetic of the events of her life, that 
give her a place in the world's history. Were they 
under a prophetic impulse in giving a name to their 
child ? We are only sure of the historic fact. The 
names of the Bible are all, probably, descriptive or sig- 
nificant, as oriental names are still, and as all names were 
originally. The pictures of Delilah usually represent 
her with auburn hair, fair complexion, medium stature, 
a bewitching eye and a voluptuous expression. Artists 
have no authority for such a picture, however, beyond 



WAS DELILAH HIS WIFE. 253 

their imagination and the presumption of the record 
before us. We think our engravings of Delilah with 
Samson asleep in her lap, and as she appears when he 
is taken by the Philistines, both happily expressive of 
her character and surrounding circumstances. I have 
always fancied a striking resemblance between her and 
Queen Dido. Some have doubted whether Delilah 
was of Philistine parentage. Hebrew tradition and 
Josephus, however, assert that she was, and this I think 
the text implies. Some doubt, also, whether she was ever 
Samson's wife, or only his concubine. Milton considers 
her his second married wife, which seems to me most 
likely. It is true, however, she is no where called his 
wife ; and if she were his wife, it may be pertinently 
asked, why did he not take her home to his own house ? 
Though his married wife, as I think, she was chosen 
from wrong motives or upon corrupt principles. His 
choice was made in violent passion, rather than from 
prudence or out of regard to the religion of his fathers. 
As a Philistine, she belonged to a wicked and idolatrous 
people. 

The lords of the Philistines were the chiefs of their 
five principalities : Gaza, Gath, Askelon, Ashdod and 
Ekron. And though these principalities were consid- 
ered in most respects sovereign and independent, yet in 
their wars against the Israelites they were generally, 
perhaps always, united. At this time they were con- 
federate against the Hebrew champion, and diligently 
watching for an opportunity to get an advantage over 
him. As soon, therefore, as they heard that Samson 
had formed an alliance with Delilah, they offered her a 
large bribe if she would get from him the secret of his 



254 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

strength. Each chief promised to give her eleven hun- 
dred pieces of silver, if she succeeded. Five thousand, 
five hundred pieces of silver was a considerable sum of 
money in those days. If these pieces, as it is probable, 
were shekels of silver, the sum was about three thousand 
dollars. 

The heathen are all superstitious. Even the Greeks 
and Romans, with all their enlightenment in philosophy 
and in the arts and sciences, were the slaves of terrible 
superstitions. The people of the East generally are 
given to charms, incantations, signs and omens. As 
Samson did not owe his extraordinary strength to the 
size of his body, the Philistine lords seem to have 
conjectured that it must lie in some amulet or charm, 
and that the supernatural power he wielded depended 
on his continued possession of some magical ring or 
word ; and that if they could in any way get this secret 
from him, then they could easily make him their pris- 
oner and put him to death. 

" And Delilah said unto Samson, Tell me, I pray 
thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith 
thou mightest be bound to afflict thee ?" 

" And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with 
seven green withes, that were never dried, then shall I 
be weak, and be as another man." Verses six and seven 
and to the twentieth, inclusive. 

I have nothing to say in defence of Samson's lying. 
It seems to me, after all that commentators have said in 
explaining the text so as to excuse at least in part his 
trifling with Delilah, that she was correct in saying to 
him that he told her lies. Yes, lies is the word, neither 
white nor little, nor over the shoulder ; but honest Eng- 



HOW FAR DELILAH WAS CORRUPTED. 255 

lish lies. Nor need I explain how his soul was vexed 
unto death, for he is neither the first nor the last man 
whose soul has been vexed to death by an ungodly 
woman. Let us then at once attend to the enticement, 
the repeated temptation, the struggling of the strong man 
in the toils of an artful woman, and the success of the 
beguilement. 

I. The Philistine lords did not profess to wish to kill 
Samson, but only to bind him to afflict him; that is, 
according to the Hebrew, to humble him, to bring him 
low. " Entice him," said they, " and see wherein his 
great strength lieth." Literally: For what cause his 
strength is so great. Much as Delilah may have been 
to blame, I should think she did not intend to do all she 
did. She did not expect the consequences to be what 
they really were. She did not see the ultimate purpose 
of her seducers. Nor did she know that Samson would 
in fact be so powerless, and that they would tear out his 
eyes — those very eyes that gazed upon her in such rap- 
turous love — and load him with chains and carry him 
off to grind in the mills of Gaza. No; surely, if the 
proposition had been made directly in all its naked cru- 
elty, to kill him, or to maim him for life, as he lay in her 
lap, the offer of the eleven hundred pieces of silver would 
have been spurned. And is it not possible that she was 
jealous, or feared that he would prove fickle and incon- 
stant, as his sex too often do, and leave her; and 
that she designed that her countrymen should succeed 
against him, only so far as to impose some temporary 
restraint, and that thus she should be able to hold 
him securely the longer with her soft toils ? It were 
difficult to prove that she was not moved by some such 



256 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

considerations ; and yet it requires a great deal of cour- 
age to affirm that she really loved Samson, and did not 
design to ruin him, but only the better to keep him near 
her. It is thus, however, the great poet represents her 
as pleading her cause before her eyeless husband in the 
prison. On the great principle that we must give to 
every one his due, it is necessary to allow Mrs. Delilah 
Samson the benefit of these suggestions. The cause of 
virtue and truth is never promoted by making Satan 
blacker than he really is. In allowing her to plead as 
the great poet does, her love of country and devotion to 
her heathen god, and that she did not know the ruinous 
consequences, to which her conduct would lead, we must 
not be understood as holding her blameless. The high- 
est authority has given the most truthful picture of the 
strange woman, whose ways are the chambers of death, 
and the going down to hell. The young have special 
need to be put on their guard against a class of writers 
who for the purpose of pulling down the pillars of society, 
and destroying the sanctity and blessedness of the mar- 
riage relation and of " the bed undefiled," as established 
by law and under the sanction of our holy religion, are 
continually praising the faithfulness and devotion of free- 
love women, who are made saints or angels to the dis- 
paragement of lawful married wives. If there is one 
such, there are ten thousand as heartless, as mercenary, 
and as treacherous as Delilah, though they may not 
be heathen as she was. It was no doubt in reference to 
just this class of women, who are so much praised by 
some of our poets and popular essayists and eulogists of 
theatres, that the wise man said, recording his own bitter 
experience : " One man among a thousand have I found 



EXPERIMENTS WITH WITHES AND ROPES. 257 

(upright and to be trusted) but a woman among all these 
have I not found." Ecc. vii : 28. If Solomon had kept 
better company, his experience would have enabled him 
to make a better record of womankind. 

The best excuse I can make for Delilah is, that out 
of curiosity — the very same thing that is thought to 
have wrought such mischief with our first mother — she 
desired to experiment with her husband, and find out the 
secret of his extraordinary strength, but expecting every 
time that he would be able to extricate himself from all 
difficulty — not believing it possible that his enemies 
could finally and fatally prevail against him. 

2. " If they bind me" said Samson, " with seven green 
withes that were newly dried. Withes, according to the 
Hebrew here, may have been any kind of tough, pliable 
wood, twisted into ropes. The Septuagint says they 
were cords made of rawhide, and so the Vulgate, nervi- 
ceis funibus. It is probable the first cords or ropes used 
were thongs cut from rawhide, twisted and dried. Tugs 
are extensively used, even in our day, instead of iron 
chains, for drawing the plow, cart, harrow, and wagon 
in Africa, and many other parts of the world. I have 
seen ropes made of the fibres of the bogwood, in Ireland, 
and of young hickories, hazels, or oziers, in our South- 
ern and Western States. In India wild buffaloes and 
elephants when first caught are bound with green withes. 
When green they are exceedingly strong, but when dried 
they are brittle and good for nothing. New ropes, ivithes, 
and the sacred number, seven, seem all to have been 
suggested by his knowledge of their superstition, ideas 
of a charm, or spell, for such things were used in 
heathen incantations. The monuments show that flax 



258 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

was used long before this time in Egypt, and ropes of 
hemp may also have been in use ; but those made of 
fibres of trees, or of switches, were not and are not still 
superseded. 

3. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her 
■in the chamber, or rather hidden in the inner apartment, 
not present in the same room, who rushed out upon him, 
but Samson broke the withes as a thread of tow is broken 
when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. 
The experiment with the new ropes resulted as the one 
with the new withes had done. But still Delilah persists, 
and he tells her to weave the seven locks of his head 
with the web. Biblical scholars tell us this thirteenth 
verse ends abriuptly, that it should be as the Septuagint 
has it, closing with directions how to fasten his hair, just 
as she accordingly does, as we are told in the next verse. 

This is certainly the sense. The seven locks probably 
means the seven divisions into which his hair was platted. 
As a Nazarite he was obliged to wear his hair long, and 
as a matter of comfort, it was necessary to weave it into 
locks, or distinct folds, and the number seven being 
sacred it was adopted. It was equivalent to all his hair. 
And she fastened it, that is, his hair in its seven fold 
form, to the loom, winding it about the yard beam, as is 
plain from the verses following. 

4. This third experiment was a much more danger- 
ous one than the preceding ; it approached so near to 
his awful secret that we begin to tremble for him. He 
is now beginning to handle sharp edged tools. The 
circle is growing smaller and smaller with fearful rapid- 
ity. He tells his enchantress if his long locks were 
woven around the beam of the loom, he would be as 



HIS LOCKS IN THE LOOM. 



259 



another man. And she, to make the experiment more 
sure, fastened the web to the floor or wall with a pin. 
But as he was still possessed of the mark of his cove- 
nant with Jehovah, so the Philistines could not prevail 
against him. He dragged the whole loom, web, pin, 
beam and all by his hair. 

The monuments of Egypt prove that the loom was 
known before this period. Our engraving of an upright 
loom, copied from the monuments of Egypt, shows 

how Delilah could 
weave his locks to 
the loom, and fast- 
en them down to 
the floor. The 
looms of the East 
are still much more 
simple and primi- 
tive than ours. 

But does Sam- 
son now arouse 
himself, and say, I 
have trifled long enough ? Away fair tempter, I cannot 
stay any longer on this dangerous ground ; I cannot sin 
against God, and do so wicked a thing as to betray my 
secret. Alas ! the woman's importunities prevail. " He 
told her all that was in his heart." So great was his 
infatuation that, like the moth, he approached nearer 
and nearer to the flame, until he was consumed by it. 
He told her of his wondrous birth and eventful life, and 
divine deliverances ; that he was a Nazarite, and that 
the preservation of his long hair was a test of his obe- 
dience, and a token of the divine presence to aid him 




UP1UGHT LOOil. 



260 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

whenever opportunity presented for executing justice 
upon her countrymen ; and that if his hair were shaven 
he would be as another man, because by such a sin he 
would deprive himself of the divine power that was 
vouchsafed to him as long as he was faithful to his vows. 
She saw, by his earnest tone, and subdued and sincere, 
manner, that he was no longer amusing her, but had 
actually told her the secret of his strength. But instead 
of being favorably impressed by this mark of his confi- 
dence, or moved from her satanic purpose of pressing 
her experiments by this proof of his honesty, and of his 
ardent love for her, she immediately took measures to 
betray him. Accordingly she makes such positive assur- 
ances to the Philistine lords that they are not to be 
trifled with this time, that they hurry up to Sorek with 
the money in hand. And she tells them that he has 
told me at last the secret of his heart, and they counted 
out the money. And sure enough, this time her plan 
succeeds, as I would fain hope, even beyond her own 
wishes. 

5. And she made him sleep upon her knees. At noon, 
in the East, it is very hot, and the inhabitants are in the 
habit of taking a siesta. This short repose is usually 
taken by a son in the lap of his mother, or by a husband 
in the lap of his wife. The climate and fixtures of their 
domestic establishments are suited for such a luxury. 
The woman sits on a divan, or mat, or carpet, cross- 
legged, and the man lays himself down with his head in 
her lap, " and she gently taps, strokes, sings and soothes 
him to sleep." This is well represented by our artist in 
the engraving. 

And she called for a man, and caused him to shave off 



SAMSON SHAVEN AND AFFLICTED. 261 

the seven lochs of his head. Most, if not all, the pictures 
I have ever seen of Samson in Delilah's lap, represent 
her with a pair of scissors, cutting off his hair with her 
own hands. This is altogether wrong. It may well be 
doubted whether scissors were then in use. It is, how- 
ever, well known that barbers by profession are nearly 
as old as the creation. They are found operating on the 
oldest monuments of the Nile ; and the monuments of 
the Tigris and Euphrates, as well as of Egypt, prove 
that wig wearing was very common in a very remote 
antiquity. The Arabian Nights and Oriental tales speak 
of barbers as belonging to an ancient and important 
profession. The embalming surgeon of Egypt seems 
to have been also a common barber. Our engraving of 

barbers operating is copied from 
the monuments of Egypt. 

While Samson sleeps, the bar- 
ber takes off his sacred locks. 
So skillful were the barbers of 
the East, that they are said to 
have been able to take off a man's 
baebeks oepeeating. beard or hair without awakening 
him — rather to have lulled him to sweeter sleep by 
the operation. 

6. I do not understand Samson to say, in the seven- 
teenth verse, that his great strength existed essentially in 
his hair. All Nazarites had long hair, but they did not 
all possess superhuman strength, nor strength in propor- 
tion as their hair was long. Samson is not, therefore, to 
be understood as saying that his hair was essentially his 
strength, or that his strength was natural, but that his 
hair was the mark of his Nazarite relation to God, whose 




262 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

Spirit imparted to him his miraculous strength. He 
meant that his long hair was a proof of his obedience, 
and of his covenant with God, from whom he derived 
and would always derive strength so long as he was 
obedient to him. And consequently, if he were disobe- 
dient, and his hair were shaven, then the Nazarite vow 
that consecrated him to God would be broken, and God 
would abandon him, and he would become weak as 
another man. The secret was now out, and the plot was 
speedily executed. And she began to afflict him, and his 
strength went from him. This she did herself, before 
she called for the Philistines, to see whether he were 
really weak now as another man. And though she is 
now convinced that he has lost his strength, she still 
probably thought it was only for a little time, and that 
in actual extremity he would recover it again. 

How deep must have been Samson's mortification ! 
How terrible his agony and disappointment, to find that 
he had broken his vows, and was indeed forsaken of 
God ! At first he was not conscious of his awful fall. 
" He awoke out of his sleep, and said I will go out as at 
other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not 
that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philis- 
tines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him 
down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass ; and 
he did grind in the prison house." See engraving of the 
Philistines taking Samson. His sleeping was accursed, 
and more accursed his waking. " He that sleeps in sin 
must look to wake in loss and weakness." — Hall. There 
may be those who think that Samson could not have 
been so easily overcome. It is wonderful that after he 
had been three times tried, and had found each time that 



HOW SAMSON WAS TAKEN. 263 

the Philistines were lying in wait, within call, to come 
upon him, that he allowed Delilah to dally with him a 
fourth time, and then told her the real secret of all his 
strength. His infatuation was most extraordinary ; but 
inordinate and unlawful attachments of this kind have 
generally been found to be at the bottom of the most 
horrid and revolting deeds in the chronicles of strong 
men. Remember David, and beware of the weakness 
of human nature. 

But it is not to be supposed that we have here a full 
account of all the interviews or conversations that past 
between Samson and Delilah. He was a judge in Israel, 
and however Samsonian his passions may have been, it 
is not at all likely that he surrendered without a struggle. 
We know that she had to apply all her arts repeatedly. 
She watched for moments most favorable to her designs. 
She found out by what arts of soft dalliance she could 
obtain the greatest influence over him. She resorted to 
every means of lulling his suspicions. He seems not 
to have known of the bribe, nor at first of her inter- 
course with his national enemies. And even after he 
found that she had the Philistines lying in wait to rush 
upon him,. as soon as she fancied he had told her his 
secret, he was easily persuaded that it was all in jest. 
Perhaps she flattered him, and told him she loved to see 
him displaying his great strength, and making sport of 
the Philistines. Nor did he fall in a moment, nor in an 
hour. Doubtless several days, it may be weeks or 
months, intervened ; time enough for his resentment to 
cool, or for removing his suspicions, and for her to ply 
all her arts of persuasion and blandishment. Once and 
again he visits Sorek, and every time she gains some 



264 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

new point of influence over him. She conducts the 
siege with admirable skill. Every time she advances 
her rifle pits, and brings her sharp shooters nearer, until 
at last the strong citadel is completely invested. Simple 
minded and confiding as he was strong, he is at last sur- 
prised and taken. We have no record of his internal 
conflict, but the battle in his great soul must have been 
a terrific struggle before he yielded. There seems to 
have been less prudence, and not so much firmness as 
he displayed with his first wife. He gave his Timnite 
bride at first a flat refusal when she attempted to get his 
secret. But he had not courage to give a direct and 
emphatic no to Delilah at all. He tried to answer her 
by telling her to bind him with green withes and new 
ropes. And when the faithless wife thought she had 
succeeded, and said, " the Philistines be upon thee Sam- 
son," to her astonishment he was as strong as ever. And 
again she plied her arts, and succeeded in lulling his 
suspicions, until he told her all his heart, and said I have 
been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb. 

How are the mighty fallen ! What a confession to 
be made in the lap of Delilah ! What a sad commen- 
tary upon his education and youthful hopes !. Why did 
not the very utterance of such words arouse him to a 
sense of his shame ! Why did he not flee as for his life ! 
Strange that he was so infatuated that he did not even 
now, at this late hour, break away at all hazards from 
the enchantress. But it is just so now. He that departs 
from God hardens his heart and sears his conscience, 
and soon falls into the fatal habit of disregarding the 
warnings of his conscience and of God's word. To dally 
with Delilah is fatal. The only safety is flight. 



% (Sriat (turn \\t prison Hill d (Isja. 



CHAPTER XV. 



A GRIST FROM THE PRISON-MILL OF GAZA. 

" In that tale I find 
The furrows of long thought, and dried-up tears, 
Which ebbing, leave a sterile track behind, 
O'er which all heavily the journeying years 
Plod the last sands of life— where not a flower appears." 

Childe Harold. 

When Josephus says Samson was a prophet, he 
means that he was raised up by a particular providence, 
and set apart to God's service as a Nazarite, and had 
an extraordinary commission from God for avenging his 
people : and not that he had any prophetic revelations. 
Such revelations were not made by him ; nevertheless 
he was a great teacher. In him we see the workings of 
human nature, and the deep struggling^ of higher prin- 
ciples, both in prosperity and adversity. But he has 
fallen — sadly fallen through, the fascinations of an un- 
godly, unprincipled woman. The tempest that had so 
often before nearly made shipwreck of our giant judge, 
has at last stranded him on the beach. And scarcely 
was Christendom more convulsed at the fall of Sebas- 
topol, than was all Philistia at the capture of Samson. 

" The Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and 



268 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters 
of brass ; and he did grind in the prison-house." 

Delilah's fourth experiment succeeded, perhaps, even 
beyond her expectations ; and when the Lord departed 
from Samson, instead of being able to carry away the 
doors of Gaza on his shoulders, he is now led thither a 
helpless captive — blind and in chains. How sad the 
change ! but more humiliating far the cause of this 
change, than the ignominy of his external sufferings. 
Now the very arms that once wielded the heavy new 
jaw-bone with such terrible effect, and rent asunder 
the new cords and withes as burnt tow, are bound hard 
and fast in fetters of brass. An insulting guard of un- 
circumcised Dagon worshippers taunt and goad him 
along the weary road down to Gaza : Aha ! this is the 
way you carry off our doors from the city gate, is it ? 
Don't you wish you could find another jaw-bone ! Cow- 
ardly wretches ; but yesterday ten thousand of you could 
not stand before him, nor could you now, had he only 
been faithful to his God ! But such is always the way 
of transgression — such are always the consequences of 
departing from the living God. Those sacred locks that 
had been tenderly cherished by his mother, and hitherto 
so much cared for by himself, are left in Sorek, the 
spoils and the sport of a faithless woman and her 
accomplices in crime. His gait and bearing are not 
now as of yore. That head, so long adorned with glossy 
locks, sealing his birth-consecration to Jehovah, is now 
bald, and exposed to a Syrian sun. His steps, once so 
steady and so firm, are now feeble and tripping. The 
eyes, that once gazed upon the heavens in rapt devo- 
tion, and were wont to speak flames of love, or shoot 



PUTTING OUT HIS EYES. 269 

forth the fire of anger, are now rayless, never again to 
kindle with the light of the sun. Newly blind, he hob- 
bles along, not having yet learned how to walk without 
his eyes. How different his return from his defiant 
departure from the same city with its doors upon his 
shoulders ! 

And the Philistines put out his eyes. We are told 
that in Persia, it is the practice of the king to punish 
a rebellious city by exacting so many pounds of eyes, 
and that in fulfilling this order, his executioners go and 
" scoop out from every one they meet, till they have the 
weight required." Learned authors agree in saying 
that the common way of putting out the eyes among 
the Greeks and Asiatics, was, " by drawing or holding 
a red-hot iron before them." This awful custom is still 
known in Asia and Africa. Sometimes, but not usually, 
the eyes were cut out, and sometimes dug out with a 
dagger and carried to the king in a basin, after the man- 
ner of John the Baptist's head to Herodias' daughter. 
The evidence is full that such acts of cruelty were com- 
mon in ancient times. And sometimes, history informs us, 
the executioners ordered to destroy the eyes of prisoners 
were so careless that the prisoners were so butchered as 
to lose their lives under the operation. M. Bonomi, in 
his "Nineveh and its Palaces," (p. 169,) furnishes us 
with a drawing from Khorsabad, that illustrates this 
savage barbarity. Our engraving is copied from the 
sculpture on the chamber of the palace of the king. 
The central figure is the king himself, and before him 
are three prisoners, the foremost one on his knees in a 
most beseeching attitude, and the other two standing 
behind in humble posture, begging for mercy. The 



270 



THE GIANT JUDGE. 




PUTTING OUT THE EYES. 



king is thrusting the 
point of his spear into 
one of the eyes of the 
suppliant before him, 
while with his left hand 
/ he holds the ends of 
. . • cords fastened to the 
b, upperlips of the other 
* captives, who are man- 
acled and fettered, and 
standing behind the one 
whose eyes are about to 
be put out. The king is attended also by his cup- 
bearer and officers of state, bearing sceptres ; by a 
eunuch and the chief governor, or Mob Signeen. "Who 
knows but that this is the history of king Zedekiah from 
II. Kings illustrated ? At least, in the picture we 
easily recognize his fate, and the putting out of Samson's 
eyes. 

And bound him with fetters of brass. The Philis- 
tines were so terribly afraid of Samson, that they not 
only put out his eyes, but bound him. Though his arms 
were now as feeble as any other man's, yet his bodily 
presence was to them as king Edward's skin and armor 
were to the border clans. They were determined that 
if by any means his strength should return to him, so 
that he should break the fetters with which he was 
bound, yet he should not have eyes to see how to use it. 
The brass of the text is copper, for as yet the factitious 
metal known to us as brass was not in use. We have 
ample proof, however, of the use of copper in remote 
ages for many purposes to which iron is now applied. 



COPPER CHAINS AND UTENSILS. 271 

Ancient monuments show conclusively that chains, fet- 
ters, instruments for labor and for cooking, knives, axes, 
and vases, dishes and dice-boxes, hammers, chisels, adzes 
and hatchets, daggers, rings, prisoners' fetters and strong 
chains were all used by the ancients. Such articles and 
a bowl of bitumen overlaid with copper and a piece of 
lead, have been brought from the ruins of the Tigris 
and Euphrates, and are now in the British Museum. 
Those brought from Tel Sifx in ancient Babylon by Mr. 
Loftus,* seem to have been the stock in trade of a cop- 
persmith, whose forge was near by. Copper was used 
in ancient Egypt, where the art of hardening the points 
of their copper instruments seems to have been more 
perfectly known than it is in the present day. The 
obelisks of the Nile are covered with hieroglyphics, and 
yet they are so hard, that it is with great difficulty any 
inscriptions can be cut on them with our tools. The 
cutting of the French inscriptions on the obelisk set up by 
Louis Philippe in the Place de la Concorde, is in proof 
of this. We find the Israelites using copper abundantly 
in building the tabernacle. Though iron was not wholly 
unknown to the ancients, it was not much used. It will 
be readily remembered, however, that the Bible speaks 
in several places of chains and fetter of brass (copper.) 
See, particularly, Psalms xlix : 8 ; 2 Kings xxv : 7, 
and the history of Manasseh and Hezekiah. Mr. 
Layard thinks the fetters of the prisoners at Nineveh 
were of iron, but it is generally conceded that the mon- 
uments prove that those of Egyptian prisoners were of 



* Loftus' Travels and Researches in Babylonia and Susiana, p. 269. See also 
Layard's Nineveh— passim. 



272 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

copper. Mr. Loftus thinks that the Chaldeans were a 
colony from Egypt. The best authorities, as we have 
seen, agree that the Philistines were of Egj^ptian origin. 
It were a deeply interesting subject, but one that does 
not come within my present purpose, to trace out from 
ancient history and the readings of recent discoveries, 
the striking; similarities that exist between the ancient 
Egyptians, Assyrians and Philistines. Modern re- 
searches and discoveries all tend to corroborate the unity 
of the human races, and their dispersion from a com- 
mon cradle, according to the tenth and eleventh chapters 
of Genesis. 

I think this is the first time the Bible speaks of put- 
ting out any one's eyes. And the first time that we 
have mention made of a prison since the record of Pha- 
raoh's round house, in the history of Joseph. The 
sculptured records of the East prove, however, the great 
antiquity of the usages referred to in the text. The 
ancients were in the habit of keeping some of their 
prisoners to grace a great feast or triumphal procession, 
and in the mean time of heaping upon them every pos- 
sible insult and cruelty that life could bear. In Southey's 
Brazil we have an instance which, perhaps, illustrates 
more accurately the treatment bestowed upon Samson 
by the Philistines than any other given by the books. 
A prisoner was tried and then commanded to jump, 
while his captors " laughed and shouted, saying, see how 
our meat is jumping. He asked if this was the place 
where he was to die. No, his master replied ; but these 
things were always done to prisoners. Having seen 
him dance, they now ordered him to sing ; he sung a 
hymn. They bade him interpret it, and he said it was 




SAMSON GRINDING AT THE MILL. 



"Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves, 
To grind, in brazen fetters under task." 



CRUELTIES ON PRISONERS. 273 

in praise of God. They then reviled his God ; and 
their blasphemies so shocked him that he admired in his 
heart the wonderful indulgence and long-suffering of 
God towards them." 

It is well known that the Indians of America delight 
in such cruelties. They inflict wounds on their prison- 
ers, and treat them in the most cruel manner, that they 
may see how much courage they have, and enjoy their 
writhings of pain. Sometimes the prisoners are made 
to run the gauntlet, or to dance and sing through the 
most exquisite sufferings from wounds or from the 
slowly consuming flames, until death releases them. 
The history of the " Oatman Family," recently pub- 
lished, is a thrilling illustration of their barbarous treat- 
ment of prisoners. Such, doubtless, was the spirit and 
manner of the Philistines with Samson. 

In the mean time Samson is not only bound, but 
made to grind at the mills as a slave, and as a slave of 
the state. His condition was in every respect a most 
painfully aggravated one — much more so than if he 
had been reduced to servitude in a private family, whose 
self-interest, if no higher motives were found, would 
prompt them to mild treatment. Here is the original 
of imprisonment at hard labor. I presume this is the 
first instance of penitentiary labor on record, and I 
think it is the only instance in the Bible of imprison- 
ment and hard labor united. The oriental custom with 
prisoners was either a summary execution, when not 
reserved for a triumph, or condemnation to perpetual 
servitude. From Lam. v : 11 and Isa. xlvii : 2, it ap- 
pears that the Chaldeans made such of their Hebrew 
captives as they wished especially to degrade to grind in 

L* 



274 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

the mill. Herodotus says that the Scythians put out the 
eyes of all their prisoners of war, and made them milkers 
of their cows. Probably they considered blind slaves 
better for milking, and for grinding, somewhat as we 
put a blind horse, or a blind-folded one to turn the 
wheel in sawing wood, and for the performance of like 
rotary work. See Melpomene cap. 2, and Kitto's Illus- 
trations, p. 417, etc. 

In Zanzibar and Eastern Africa, as well as in por- 
tions of Asia and on many of the islands of the sea, 
this kind of primitive mill and the mortar are the only 
instruments in use for grinding. The Cassada root, 
ground or pounded, is the staple food of the poorer 
classes. The mill consists of two flat circular stones, 
some two feet in diameter. " The one is convex, hav- 
ing a hole through which the grain passes, and is sup- 
ported upon the other, which is concave, by a firm peg. 
To the upper stone is affixed a handle, by which it is 
kept revolving by two women sitting on opposite sides 
of the mill." (Osgood's Notes, p. 26.) 

So necessary was the mill considered in a family, that 
according to the law of Moses, " no man shall take the 
nether or the upper millstone to pledge, for he taketh a 
man's life to pledge." That is, his life and that of his 
family depended on his having a mill by which to pre- 
pare their bread. The same law substantially prevails 
among us. The constable cannot take by a suit at law 
the miner's tools, the farmer's plough, nor the mechanic's 
saw and chisel. 

The prophet expressed the utter desolation of Baby- 
lon by saying : " The sound of the millstone shall be 
heard no more at all." That is, it shall become a mass 



DIFFERENT KIND OF MILLS. 275 

of ruins. The means of subsistence shall wholly cease. 
This prophecy has been literally fulfilled. All that is 
now to be seen in the marshes and by " the standing 
pools " of Babylon, are ruins, a solitary traveller and a 
few flitting, robbing Bedouins. 

Mills are probably as old as looms, and both go back 
to remotest times. Hand-mills resembling those of the 
most ancient monuments are still in use in China, Africa 
and the East generally. Our engraving is a correct 
picture of such mills. Grain was first prepared for bread 
probably by boiling it and then bruising it in a mortar. 
The mortar and pestle are still in use among the abo- 
rigines of this continent for pounding or grinding acorns 
and grain into meal. And the opinion prevails among 
not a few, that meal obtained in this way is sweeter than 
that ground in our common mills. The Anglo-Saxons 
of an early period used the same kind of mills that are 
found in the East, and this may be another proof of what 
Dr. Pritchard affirms in a recent work, the Asiatic ori- 
gin of the Celts. The first mills were probably turned 
by women, slaves and prisoners, and in process of time 
by oxen and donkeys, and then by wind and water, 
and now by steam. Several allusions are made in the 
Bible to women grinding at the mill which are explained 
in the custom just described. The Philistines designed 
by making Samson grind at the mill to show their vin- 
dictive contempt for him. In making him grind with 
women and slaves for their sport, they also made him 
work for us. For his eventful history helps us to under- 
stand somewhat more fully the awful verities of God 
and the sublime teachings of a world to come. Blind 
and grinding at the mill — a close prisoner and in terri- 



276 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

ble suffering, he is entitled to our deepest sympathies. 
His condition is a deeply impressive illustration that the 
Scriptures of God speak truth in warning us that if we 
sow to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap corruption 
— a harvest of sorrow. Every step of Samson's life 
warns us of snares in which our own feet may be taken. 
Along the line of his dark passage from a religious edu- 
cation and early piety, till we find him 

" Eyeless in Gaza, at the mill with slaves !" 

a prisoner in the temple of the heathen fish-god, there 
are many points where we should ruminate ; and as we 
look through the window upon his gloomy cell, and hear 
the shouts of derision in the streets, our gratitude should 
be excited for the 'preventing grace of God that has 
made us to differ. In following him there are many 
sharp turns and dark windings and slippery places, where 
we have great need of the light of the sanctuary to keep 
our own feet from falling. 

I. In Samson's history we see the wonderful forbear- 
ance of God, notivith standing his misuse of great mercies 
and of supernatural strength. Though he has often 
fallen, and his life thus far sadly disappoints us, still he 
was not powerless till he gave up the secret of his 
strength. Strange, that at his time of life, when the 
fires of youth should at least have so far cooled down 
as to be under the control of reason, he should go from 
Gaza to Sorek. But he was not an exception to the 
rule, that " because sentence against an evil work is not 
executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men 
is fully set in them to do evil." With Samson, as with 



AGGRAVATION OF SAMSON'S FALL. 277 

men now, success made him confident and careless in 
sinning. Continued prosperity in evil-doing is frequently- 
assumed to be a tenure in perpetuity of the blessings 
which are thus abused ; whereas such abuses enhance 
every moment the guilt that will be all the more terrible 
in its results because the judgment has been delayed. 
Samson's consecration to God before his birth; — his 
birth twice heralded by an angel; — his early and most 
careful religious training ; the prayers, sacrifices, and 
pious hopes of his godly parents ; and God's grace given 
to him in his youth, and all the miraculous strength he 
had received — all his experience of divine power and 
goodness through an extraordinary life, only enhanced 
his guilt, and gave poignancy to his grief as we see him 
at Gaza. The light of nature accuses all men of sin, so 
that they are without excuse ; but Samson's sins were 
the more aggravated because they were committed after 
repeated warnings and singular deliverances. He sin- 
ned against the seventh commandment, and under the 
historic light of signal vengeance upon the nations of old 
for their uncleanness. He could not have been ignorant 
that it was for licentiousness the world was destroyed by 
a flood, and the Canaanites accursed, and twenty-three 
thousand of the children of his own people had been 
slain, leaving their bones to bleach on the sand on their 
way up from Egypt. But if we see the wonderful for- 
bearance of God in Samson's history — what shall we say 
of the divine patience in our own ? Except the power 
to perform miracles, we have as much as he had to 
enhance our responsibilities. The greater the degree of 
gospel light that shines on us, the more is our obligation 
increased, and our guilt augmented, if we are disobedient. 



278 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

Instead of Nazaritish vows, we are under solemn baptis- 
mal obligations, which extend over our whole term of 
life. Samson's long hair was the sign or test of his obe- 
dience. So is our baptism. Dear reader, are you sure 
you are not guilty of wiping away the sacred drops 
by which you were publicly dedicated to God, as Sam- 
son was shorn of his locks by disclosing the secret of his 
strength ? Have you not at the age of maturity refused 
to confirm the confession of faith and vows made in your 
behalf at your baptism by your parents ? And are none 
of you still wearing the outward badge of your covenant 
with God, who are living in known sin ? Do you not 
remember that as baptised persons you are under solemn 
pledges " to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, 
and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present 
evil world ?" 

II. Samson lost his great strength in an unconscious 
manner. His frame was not convulsed when the barber 
removed his locks. No sobs revealed the fact that he 
had become as another man. He slept on just as other 
men sleep, but when he awoke, he is as other men, sav- 
ing that he is now more degraded. When the Philis- 
tines come upon him he finds himself really as weak as 
other men, and was soon overpowered. 

" Even as a dove, whose wings are clipped for flying 
Flutters her idle stumps, and still relying 
Upon her wonted refuge, strives in vain 
To quit her life from danger, and attain 
The freedom of her air-dividing plumes ; 
She struggles often, and she .oft presumes 
To take the sanctuary of the open fields ; 
But, finding that her hopes are vain, she yields — 
Even so poor Samson."— See Quarles in J{itto,p. 413. 

III. Samson's history is a pictorial of the progressive 



HIS SOUL IN CONSUMPTION. 279 

dowwnard tendencies of sinning. Glorious were the hopes 
of his infancy. Brightly shone his morning sun in the 
camp between Eshtaol and Zorah ; but soon he is astray 
at Timnath, and then repentant on the top of Etam, then 
sinning at Gaza, but delivered by the great mercy of 
God, but only delivered to go to Sorek, and to fall a 
victim to Delilah's fascination. And in his case, too, we 
see that the progress was made through the senses, and 
that the organ of sense chiefly offending was made the 
chief sufferer. He went down to Timnath and saw a 
woman that pleased him. His eyes led him astray. But 
as yet, though smitten, he can hardly be said to have 
begun his wayward course, for he goes and consults his 
father and mother about the woman. But time for 
deliberation and the indulgence of his parents only 
strengthens his passion for the maiden. From seeing 
her he talks with her, and his parents talk for him, and 
at last he is married, but he does not regain paradise by 
marrying a Philistine. For a good while we know but 
little of him ; doubtless he has found much to regret, 
but still is far from being established in grace, for by 
and by we find him very unexpectedly at Gaza, in a 
most shameful career of guilt ; and when delivered by 
supernatural strength, he is delivered only to go and 
involve himself more deeply than ever with another 
Philistine woman. Truly his conduct almost paralyses 
our attempts at explanation. 

No doubt his overt acts of sinning were preceded, as 
is always the case with backsliders, by a gradual and 
secret consumption of his inner life. Our surprise is 
not so much at his shameless fall in Gaza, as at his back- 
sliding so rapidly as to allow himself to fall at Sorek so 



280 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

soon again after his miraculous deliverance from the 
Gazites. But the stupifying and hardening process and 
deceitfulness of a course of sinning is seen, also, in his 
gradual approach to ruin in sporting with Delilah. There 
was a sort of " method in his madness," but all tending 
to his fall. He tells her to bind him " with seven green 
withes," as though jestingly he had said, bind me with a 
straw, you know I am so fond of you, you can do anything 
you wish with me. And when he tells her to weave the 
seven lochs of his head, we find him sporting with sacred 
things. Now it is plain he is lost. His enchantress is 
within the guards ; the sentinels are all past ; a little 
more cunning and perseverance, and she wins. " She has 
allured him to the brink of the precipice, where his 
senses reel and sicken, and get to be quite useless, and 
as good as abandoned him." As he decayed in spiritual 
life, so the Lord departed from him. But like most 
miserable backsliders, he was surprised that the Lord 
had really forsaken him. He fancied he Could have 
proceeded with perfect impunity to such extremities. 
He was not prepared to find himself forsaken. But his 
experience soon convinced him that he had not only lost 
the graces and gifts with which he had been endowed, 
but as he struggled and fell under the rude grasp of his 
blood-thirsting enemies, he finds that the Lord had indeed 
departed from him. And, doubtless, if we could read 
the inner history of thousands of living men who are ful- 
filling the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, we should 
find that their departure from the principles of their 
pious education had been quite accurately typified in 
Samson's downward course. There is something alarm- 
ing and mournful in the fact that the pious resolutions 



THE WORLD'S GREATEST UNIVERSITY. 281 

of many men, and the feelings of their early years, will 
not be awakened till they are on a death bed, or at the 
judgment seat of Christ. 

We are prone to forget that strength of character in 
evil or in good is a growth, and may be a slow and imper- 
ceptible growth. The oak is called the monarch of the 
forest, but it is not of mushroom growth. First the 
acorn sprouted, the tiny leaf appeared, the rains bathed 
it, the winds rocked it, the sun gladdened it ; and as it 
grew its capacities enlarged, and its arms were stretched 
out for more air, and dew, and sunshine, and its roots 
went down deeper into the earth, to draw up from thence 
the necessary sustenance and support. Frosts and snows 
became as efficient educators as light, and air, and dew ; 
and after many changing seasons of day and night, cold 
and heat, sunshine and storm, the tree was crowned 
monarch of the forest. And so it is in the education of 
our children. Their development is by degrees ; their 
mental and moral powers are a growth as well as their 
bodies ; and all the discipline and educators of the world 
in which they live are necessary to give them strength 
and beauty. They must be cared for and protected — 
they must receive discipline and culture from misfor- 
tunes as well as from success. They will have to pass 
through long dreary days as well as through bright and 
joyous ones. Books and men, persons and things, the 
whole living world of art and of nature, is constantly giv- 
ing them lessons. And more than everything else, the 
example of their own parents and immediate associates. 
The fireside is the world's greatest university. The great 
masses of mankind do not receive the honors of a col- 
lege, but all are graduates of the hearth. The learning 



282 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

of the books and the lectures of university halls may 
molder and rust in the storehouse of memory, but the 
simple lessons of home, enamelled upon the years of 
childhood, defy the decay of years. In attempting to 
clean and restore an old portrait, it sometimes happens 
that a brighter picture is revealed beneath the old one. 
So it may be with youth and manhood. The first pic- 
ture on the canvass is the one drawn in our tenderest 
years, and though it may be covered over by others, it 
is imperishable ; and as time ripens, and we approach 
nearer to eternity, it will shine through the outward 
picture, and perhaps wholly eclipse it. Early impres- 
sions are the strongest, and the last to fade from the 
memory. The home fireside is the greatest institution 
God has furnished for the education of our race, and his 
truth is the most powerful agent for enlightening and 
forming th^mind. 

We have said before and we repeat it again, it is upon 
family culture and training, more than anything 
else, we place our hope for the future of our country. 
Corruption is the plague of Republics. It makes them 
weak, and then they fall an easy prey to a military des- 
pot. Nor is any system of mere morality and civiliza- 
tion sufficient to stand against the corrupting influences 
of wealth segregated from Christianity. History also 
proves, beyond cavil, that it is not enough to cry out 
against corruption when it comes. It is then loo late. 
Demosthenes did this. Cicero did the same ; and yet 
both Athens and Rome perished. Resistance was made 
too late. The only effectual stand that can be made 
against it is in the nursery. Our homes must be the 

TRAINING PLACES OF VIRTUE AND RELIGION. The 



RELUCTANCE TO GIVE UP THE LAST HOPE. 283 

mother and the father must be the great teachers of the 
household. The father must maintain discipline and 
morality, and the mother must instil the sweet lessons of 
j)ious sentiments, and of stern morality amidst a corrupt- 
ing and sensual age. When all our wives are " chaste, 
keepers at home," and thoroughly awake to their high 
behests as the mothers of the model Republic ; and 
instead of fluttering in silk for public admiration, make 
it a paramount duty to teach their sons the principles of 
honor, patriotism, and integrity, then we shall underwrite 
with confidence the 'perpetuity of our liberties. 

Then as patriots and friends of the Great Redeemer, 
we must increase our contributions and personal efforts 
to advance true religion in the world. We must not 
sit still in inglorious ease until the ruins of our distinc- 
tive institutions bury us and the hopes of mankind 
invested in us. We must be up and at the powers of 
avarice, prejudice, selfishness, ignorance, and irreligion. 
No time is to be lost. While we sleep the enemy sows 
tares ; and besides, the day is far spent already, and 
the night cometh when no man can work. 

IV. Once more, the downward course of the Hebrew 
judge illustrates our reluctance to give up the last badge 
of our JVazarite consecration. We find him disgustingly 
in dalliance with sin, and yet keeping, as it were, to the 
very last moment the outward sign of his covenant rela- 
tion to God. His vows were for life. But in those cases 
where the Nazarite covenant was for a limited period of 
life, the expiration of that period was signalised by 
shaving the head. When Samson, therefore, told his 
religious secret, he took the formal step to separate him- 
self wholly from his God. Long since his heart had 



284 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

fearfully backslidden, but the form, of his religion he still 
held to with dogged pertinacity. The substance of his 
covenant he had long since lost, but the seal of it he now 
throws to the devil. I do not wonder, children of pious 
parents, that you are uneasy if living in sin under such 
vows as rest upon you. Nor do I wonder that you are 
reluctant to part with the last lochs that bind you to the 
God of your fathers. But beware, I beseech you, of 
sceptical books, licentious pictures, scoffing companions 
and of the strange woman. Forsake not the house of 
God. Cleave to your mother's Bible. Once you begin 
the way of the backslider, you will find it is upon " slip- 
pery places," and that every step becomes more and 
more slippery, and the precipice darker and deeper. 

" The mind that broods o'er guilty woes 
Is like the scorpion girt by lire, — 
So writhes the mind remorse hath riven, 
Unfit for earth, undoomed for heaven ; 
Darkness above, despair beneath, 
Around it flame, within it death." 

We hope Samson was saved from Satan's snares, but 
it was as a brand plucked from the burnings — saved as 
by fire. Shame, remorse, unavailing regret, resentment at 
Delilah's baseness, and a crushing sense of the dishonor 
he had brought upon religion, were quite enough to make 
a purgatory for his soul. It is here and in this world 
the torturings of the impenitent begin. The giant judge 
is now a flaming beacon on the brow of ruin. Eyeless 
and grinding like the vilest slave ; but his bodily suffer- 
ings and his disgrace are nothing to his mental anguish. 
The pains of hell got hold of him. Beware, O beware 
of the lusts of the flesh, which 

" Weave the winding sheet of souls, 
And lay them in the urn of everlasting death." 



%\t Jfmal Contest aito Cragefljr. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE PINAL CONTEST AND TRAGEDY. 



• All the contest is now 



'Twist God and Dagon. 

This day the Philistines a popular feast 

Here celebrate in Gaza ; and proclaim 

Great pomp, and sacrifice, and praises loud 

To Dagon, as their God :— 

With sacrifices, triumph, pomp and games, 

Of gynmick, artists, wrestlers, riders, runners, 

Jugglers, and dancers, an ticks, mummers, mimicks. 

Samson is dead. 

How died he ? death to life is crown or shame." 

Milton. 



In verses twenty-one and thirtieth, inclusive, of the 
sixteenth chapter of Judges, we have a remarkable trag- 
edy upon a feast — a tragedy, however, not as is often the 
case at feasts, from the fiends that lurk in the wine cups ; 
but as a judgment of God upon Dagon and his followers, 
in vindication of his prime minister and for the deliver- 
ance of his people. At the beginning of this great feast 
the Israelitish judge was in a sad plight. His eyes have 
been put out, and loaded with brazen fetters he is made 
to grind at the mill. And yet it were better for him to 
be thus employed than to have his eyes and lie in Deli- 
lah's lap. Better for him to be grinding at the prison 
mill in Gaza, than to be in Sorek. He was more blind 



288 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

with his eyes in Delilah's lap, than he was without them 
in the prison — a greater slave when he served her than 
when he ground meal for the Philistines. He saw not 
his sins, till he had no eyes. Then he began to receive 
the true illumination. Then he began to repent, and as 
he repented and was forgiven, his strength began to 
return to him. " God chasteneth us as sons. He loveth 
us ibleeding ;" and when we have smarted enough, we 
shall feel his loving-kindness. There was a just retribu- 
tion in putting out his eyes, for they were the instru- 
ments of his sinning. It was the lust of the eye that led 
him astray. But now this organ will lead him no more 
into temptation. 

Howheit the hair of his head began to grow again, after 
it was shaven. It was natural that his hair should grow 
again, but as the mere hair of his head did not constitute 
essentially his superior strength, so we must look for his 
power in the coming conflict to a supernatural source. 
He lost his strength because by losing his hair he had 
put himself out of his " condition of Nazariteship." He 
had violated his birth consecration. By disobedience 
he lost his strength ; but by sovereign mercy, the grace 
of repentance is given to him ; and as his hair grows, 
which was natural, so his strength returns, which is super- 
natural, and returns in the proportion that he increased 
in grace, and was restored to the divine favor. Con- 
vinced of his great sin in this whole affair — sensible 
of his weakness and folly — again in his right mind, peni- 
tent and earnestly imploring forgivness, and renewing 
his vows with a deeper sense of his own unworthiness 
and dependence upon almighty grace than ever before, 
he is again at peace with God. But the wretched Phil- 



SAMSON RECOVERING HIMSELF. 289 

istines knew nothing of all this. They saw not the strag- 
glings of his great soul, and were ignorant of the growth 
of his inner life. They were incapable of appreciating 
his anguish of spirit, even if they perceived it. And it 
is even so now ; the life of a true believer is in part hid- 
den from the world. His principles, joys and sorrows, 
hopes and fears, the men of the world do not under- 
stand, neither can they, for they are spiritually discerned. 
Samson is now chiefly concerned with his own heart. 
The loss of his eyes, and the labor of turning the mill, 
and the gibes and coarse laughter of his old enemies were 
nothing to him, in comparison with his soul's conflict. 
He heeded not the outer world. His whole soul is now 
intent on recovering God's favor. And as he grew in 
true repentance and re-devotement, so his strength fyegan 
to return to him, and his hair which was the sign of his 
covenant with God and of his hold upon omnipotent 
power began to grow also. In his recovery, therefore, 
we have a correspondence between the outward sign and 
the inward grace. The progressive growth of his hair 
intimates his progressive repentance towards God, and 
his growth in the divine favor. As his recovery pro- 
gressed, his meditations in his gloomy cell and in his toil 
at the prison mill must have been exceedingly varied 
and his feelings intense — now of self reproach, and then 
of hope ; now of keenest grief, and then of rejoicing in 
the overpowering sense of divine forgiveness, and in the 
dawning hope, that yet he should be able 4o signalise in 
some remarkable way the termination of his mission as 
a deliverer of Israel. His experience in his dreary dark- 
ness and almost hopeless drudgery, must have been like 
his life in general, an extraordinary one. It is not for 

M 



290 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

us to picture out the tumults, clespairings and hopes, and 
at last rejoicings of his soul. It was doubtless with him 
as it is with believers now ; all his mere reasoning failed, 
and he was compelled to seek refuge in the precious 
promises of him that is able and willing to forgive us 
our sins, if we confess and forsake them. For the blood 
of his son Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. 

II. But wicked as the Philistines were, they were a 
religious people, according to the religion of their nation. 

" Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them 
together, for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their 
god, and to rejoice ; for they said, Our god hath delivered 
Samson our enemy into our hand. 

"And when the people saw him,. they praised their 
god ; for they said, Our god hath delivered into our 
hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country, which 
slew many of us." 

Some think the name of this Philistine god, Dagon, is 
from a Hebrew word that signifies corn or wheat, and 
that Dagon was therefore the Syrian god of husbandry. 
Philo-Biblius in the translation of Sanchoniathon, says 
expressly that Dagon means Siton, the god of wheat. 
And that as the Hebrews have no feminine names to 
signify goddesses, Dagon is equivalent to Ceres, the hea- 
then goddess of agriculture and plenty. It is at least 
curious that Geres is represented on some medals of 
Syracuse as part fish. And an Egyptian medal repre- 
sents the gocMess of plenty, as a woman with a cornu- 
copia in her hands, with the tail of a fish, and feet of a 
sea calf or crocodile. Others maintain that the Philis- 
tine Dagon was the Saturn, the Jupiter, or the Venus of 
the Greeks. There is a great variety of opinions on the 



THE SEA GOD OF ASIA. 

subject, and also as to the exact form of the god Dagon. 
Berosus says that Oannes had a fish's body, a human 
head, and a human foot. It is probable that Oes and 
Oannes are one and the same, and that Oannes is Dagon, 
who according to tradition was originally a monster that 
came out of the Red Sea. It is quite certain that an 
ancient fable related that Oannes, who was half a man 
and half a fish, came to Babylon and taught the arts, 
letters and astronomy, and afterwards returned to the 
sea, and that he was called Odacon, that is O Dagon, 
the Dagon, the great fish. Is this the symbolic history 
of the colonization of Babylonia from Egypt — the com- 
ing up of people from the overflowing Nile by the way 
of the Red Sea, who brought with them a degree of civili- 
zation then unknown on the Tigris and Euphrates ? It 
is very probable. Or if this is not the true explanation, 
is this fable the story of Jonah in a heathen dress, Baby- 
lon being substituted for Nineveh, and preaching repen- 
tance, after the manner of 
some modern preachers not 
so far away as Babylon, made 
to mean teaching the arts, 
and sciences ? Or are all 
these traditions and fables 
derived from some crude sto- 
ries of Noah and the ark 
that floated over the valley 
I)AG0N - of the Euphrates, and were 

then carried east and west from the plains of Shinar ? 
The god described by Berosus is to be seen in a bas-relief 
of Khorsabad representing a naval engagement or the 
siege of a city on the sea coast. The figure is placed 




THE GIANT JUDGE. 



among the fish. (See our engraving.) The cap which 
is surmounted by a flower in shape like the fleur-de-lis, 
signifies the sacred character of the image. The right 
hand is raised after the manner of the representations 
of the winged deity. The same figure is frequently 
found on Assyrian gems and cylinders. The entrances 
of two doorways at Nimroud discovered by Mr. Layard, 
are formed by two colossal bas-reliefs of Dagon, or the 

fish-god, as in our engrav- 
ing. These figures are large 
and combine the human 
shape with that of the fish. 
The head of the fish forms 
a mitre for that of the man, 
while its. scary back and 
fanlike tail fall as a cloak 
behind, exposing in front 
the human legs and feet. 
They bear the sacred em- 
blems, the basket and the 
cone. Such figures are 
found also on antique cyl- 
inders and gems from Khor- 
sabad and Nimroud, the 
originals or casts of which 
are now in the British mu- 
seum. Mr. Layard has 
also in his possesion a fine 
Assyrian agate with the 
same figure entire cut upon 
it. " Colonel Rawlinson says he has read the name Da- 
gon among the gods of Assyria in the cuneiform inscrip- 




THE FISH-GOD. 



DAGON AMONG HEATHEN AUTHORS. 2^6 

tions." The proof is then complete that there was such 
a god in Asia Minor and Assyria. The Dagon of the 
Philistines evidently resembles the figures of the Assyr- 
ian sculptures and cylinders. If we had no other proof, 
the discoveries of Mr. Layard and of his co-laborers 
establish the fact that the worship of such a god as 
Berosus describes, who is the god of the text and of 
1 Samuel (v : 4) prevailed in Mesopotamia and Chaldea 
and the country of the Philistines. 

After very careful examination of all the authorities 
within my reach, I am confident there is nothing in the 
text that is not abundantly sustained by ancient history 
and recent discoveries. The most probable derivation 
of the name Dagon is from Dag, a fish. Some heathen 
writers seem to have spoken of the same god under the 
name Derceto, and some by the name Astarte. At least 
they have ascribed the same form and attributes to a 
divinity known by each of these names. According to 
Lucian 1 this god was first a fish with a man's head, and 
then with a woman's head. Diodorus Siculus 2 says this 
god had " the head of a woman, and all the rest of the 
body was like a fish." 3 Milton, both in his Paradise Lost 
and in Samson Agonistes makes Dagon " a sea-idol," 
' part man and part fish. There is a well known passage 
in Horace's Art of Poetry, which I have not a doubt 
is an allusion to the idea then prevailing of this sea-god 



1 Lucian de Dea. Syria. 

2 Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii. 

3 The' learned Calmet says the same: " Desinet in piscem rrmlier formosa 
superne." Consult also Selden de Diis S3 r ris, c. 3, de Dagone. The fragments 
of Berosus referred to may he seen in Cory's Fragments : p. 30, as presei-ved by 
Apollodorus. See also Beyr's commentary and Abarbanel's on 1 Samuel : 
Layard's Nineveh and its Eemains, English ed. vol. ii, p, 466, 7. Also Layard's 
Discoveries, second expedition, New York ed. p. 344, etc. 



294 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

Dagon. Supposing, says he, a painter join a human 
head to a horse's neck ; or, in Francis' translation : 

" Or if he gaA r e to view a beauteous maid 
Above the waist, with every charm array'd, 
Should afoul fish her lower parts infold, 
Would you not smile such pictures to behold?" 

Nor should we forget the fact in proof of this fish-god's 
worship on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, that 
there were at least two cities in Palestine, called Beth- 
Dagon, that is, the house or temple of Dagon. Joshua 
xv : 41 ; xix : 27. One was in Judah and one in Asher. 

It appears in the text that the captivity of Samson was 
to the Philistines a proof that their god had gained the 
victory over his God. And in 1 Sam. iv : 7 and v : 2, 
they are found indulging in the same exultation, confi- 
dent from the ark having fallen into " their hands, that 
Dagon was superior to Jehovah. In like manner the 
Assyrians, 1 Kings xx : 28, fancy that they had been 
defeated because they had fought with the Israelites in 
the hill country, seeing that the God of Israel was a 
God of the hills, whereas their gods were gods of the 
valleys. And Pharaoah's haughty defiance of the power 
of Jehovah clearly implies that he thought him merely 
the national god of the Hebrews, and greatly inferior to* 
his own gods, and therefore he would not hear his voice, 
nor let Israel go. Ex. v : 2. 

I have dwelt thus minutely, perhaps too much so, on 
this point in order that we might, if possible, suggest the 
method of harmonizing ancient writers and modern dis- 
coveries concerning the fish-god of the East. And in 
doing so we find what we know also from other sources, 
that each nation was supposed to have its own divinities, 



SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. 295 

who went to war with them, and sympathized with their 
heroes in fight, and were either victorious or vanquished 
as might be the fate of their mortal representatives. 
And I trust also this synopsis of what seems pertinent to 
the understanding of the text, will show how ancient 
fables and traditions corroborate Bible history, and bear 
their testimony to the verities of revelation. 

III. We are now introduced to the god of this " sol- 
emn feast." Let us consider the house of their worship 
and its downfall. 

From the text we learn that the house in which the 
Philistine lords were gathered together to offer a great 
sacrifice unto Dagon, their god, was full of men and 
women, and that it stood on and was borne up by "two 
middle pillars." But I think the labor of the learned to 
prove that this house had but two pillars, all lost. It is 
not historically true that the ancients ' made any such 
structures resting only on two pillars. And so far as the 
history before us is concerned, there may have been as 
many pillars to the house of Dagon, as there are in the 
hall of the thousand pillars of Constantinople, or in the 
great hall of Karnak, and yet the two centre pillars being 
the key to the building, may have so borne it up, that it 
may be said to have stood on them, and when they were 
pulled down, the whole edifice fell to the ground. 

Sir Christopher Wren's explanation of the structure 
and fall of this edifice is this, he says : " conceive a vast 
roof of cedar beams resting at one end upon the walls, 
and centering at the other upon one short architrave that 
united two cedar pillars in the middle. One pillar would 
not be sufficient to unite the ends of at least one hundred 
beams that tended to the centre ; therefore I say, there 



296 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

must have been a short architrave resting upon two pil- 
lars, upon which all the beams tending to the centre 
might be supported. Now if Samson, b y his miraculous 
strength, pressing on one or both these pillars, moved 
it from its basis, the whole roof must of necessity fall." 
(Hewlett's Bible, quoted by Bush in loco.) . These re- 
marks from so eminent an architect are commended to 
the attention of those who deny that the ancients built 
such structures at all, or if they did, Samson could not 
have demolished such a one in the manner described in 
the text. I do not, however, see the necessity of decid- 
ing whether the Philistines' building were a temple or a 
market or a palace. We know that the Egyptians had 
temples and palaces long.before this, and we have found 
that the Philistines were of Egyptian origin. It is also 
known that temples, market places and palaces were 
sometimes all united together. The same custom ob- 
tained subsequently in Greece and Rome. I am aware 
that it is urged as an objection to the historic verity of 
the text, that if such a building had been demolished in 
this way, greater prominence would have been given to 
such a catastrophe. But the text does not state that all 
the building fell. It may be that only the wing or pro- 
truding portion opposite to the grand entrance, in which 
the lords and their families were assembled fell. And 
besides how do we know that it did not make a profound 
sensation in all the surrounding country ? Where are 
the annals of the Philistine satrapies that say it did not ? 
It is fairly inferred from the text that it did make a 
profound impression ; for the warrior thousands of Phil- 
istia made no resistance to Samson's brethren, who came 
and took away his body from the ruins, and buried him 



ANCIENT AMPHITHEATRES. 297 

in the sepulchre of his father Manoah, as a prince and 
a great man in Israel. At least we are bold to say that 
there is not a syllable uttered or fairly implied from our 
record that is inconsistent with the known usages of 
that age and country. The proof is complete that the 
ancients constructed vast sacred enclosures. They were 
generally a kind of amphitheatre or arena, the first tier 
of which usually came near or quite together on pillars 
at or opposite to the main opening. The first and lowest 
tier converged somewhat like the heels of a horse-shoe 
upon the pillars at the lower side, and rose rapidly behind. 
Within the walls and under the seats were numerous 
cloisters or stalls. The seats receded in regular tiers 
from the open court which was for the wild beasts and 
wrestlers or gladiators. Sometimes a portion of the 
court and of the seats was covered with a flat or gently 
declining roof. These amphitheatres were the largest 
structures of the ancients. They were computed to 
have been large enough to hold from fifty to eighty 
thousand spectators. The ruins of those of Athens, 
Nismes, Verona and Rome which still exist, prove their 
magnitude. There is no difficulty then in finding room 
for the multitude of men and women to witness the sport 
of the Hebrew captive, nor in explaining how the build- 
ing, or a portion of it, rested on two . main key pillars. 
Nor are we without collateral evidence. Tacitus in his 
Annals (lib. vi : 62) tells us of an amphitheatre that fell 
almost in the same way as this house of the Philistines. 
And Pliny (His. Nat. xxxvi : 15) says two theatres at 
Rome, built by Caius Curio, were large enough to hold 
all the Roman people, and yet so constructed as to depend 
upon a single hinge or pivot for support. And Dr. 

M* 



298 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

Shaw in his travels and observations in the Barbary 
States and Levant, says that be "frequently saw the 
inhabitants of Algiers diverting themselves upon the 
Dey's palace ; which, like many more of the same quality 
and denomination, has an advanced cloister over against 
the gate of the palace, made in the form of a large pent- 
house, supported only by one or two contiguous pillars 
in the front, or else in the centre. In such open struc- 
tures as these, the great officers of state distribute justice, 
and transact the public affairs of their provinces. Here, 
likewise, they have their public entertainments, as the 
lords of the Philistines had in the temple of their god. 
Supposing, therefore, that in the house of Dagon was a 
cloistered building of this kind, the pulling down of the 
front or centre pillars which supported it, would alone 
be attended with the catastrophe which happened to the 
Philistines." 

Bearing in mind these historic facts — that the ancients 
used large buildings for the transaction of business, for 
holding public assemblies, for games, feasts and religious 
ceremonies — that such structures were made sometimes 
round, and sometimes nearly in the shape of a horse- 
shoe, so that the building was made to rest mainly on 
two or a few pillars in the foreground or portico, as an 
arch rests upon a key stone — and then consider the 
great weight of such an assemblage as was on the roof 
— and bear in mind, that Samson pulled or pushed one 
of these pillars with his right hand and the other with 
his left, and called at the same time upon his God, who 
strengthened him ; and we have no difficulty in believ- 
ing that at least the portion of the building containing 
the lords came crashing down with great violence, kill- 



THE NARRATIVE CREDIBLE. 299 

ing them and crushing those that were below, amongst 
whom was Samson himself. It is not at all necessary 
that we should be able to point to a building now in the 
East exactly like this one. The essential parts of such 
a structure are to be found, and historically we know 
such buildings were used by the ancients, and that simi- 
lar catastrophes have occurred in other places. Every- 
thing known of ancient times and of surrounding nations 
corroborates the truthfulness of the Bible narrative as an 
authentic history. It must not be overlooked, however, 
that Samson pulled down the building by the Spirit of 
the Almighty. Bible histories are not incredible, because 
they are not impossible, nor under the circumstances are 
they improbable. The hand of Jehovah was in them. 
Who then can say they are impossible ? The Almighty 
is never at a loss for agents or means by which to serve 
his people and fulfill his purposes. Samson, now penitent 
and forgiven, has his commission restored to him, and in 
the last acts of his life as in his earlier days, we find him 
again performing exploits as God's agent. 

IV. The superstition of the Philistines misinter- 
preted the cause of their success against Samson. It 
was not because their god had prevailed over Samson's 
God, but because Samson had disobeyed his God. It 
was owing to his sinning, and not to Dagon's superiority 
that he was helpless in their hands. The barbarians of 
Melita fell into a similar mistake in regard to Paul. 
It is the nature of all superstitions to make mistakes by 
arousing false fears, leading to wrong conclusions, and 
ascribing effects to causes which do not exist. Accord- 
ing to their theory and practice on this occasion, when 
Samson smote them " hip and thigh with a great slaugh- 



300 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

ter," and when he slew them " heaps upon heaps with 
the jaw-bone of an ass," they should have said, " Our 
god has failed us." When smarting under Samson's 
blows, they should have said, where is now our god f 
Why does he allow our enemy to prevail ? But to their 
praise be it said, we find them more ready to bless than 
to curse their deity. Whatever may be thought of their 
idolatry and cruelty, they cannot be charged with ingrati- 
tude. They did not forget to ascribe their success to 
their god. They knew that it was Delilah that had 
betrayed Samson into their hands, yet as they shouted 
the praises of Dagon, they said " Our god hath delivered 
our enemy into our hands." In their gratitude they are 
a model to us. Generally men claim all their prosperity 
as due to themselves, but cast the blame of their mis- 
carriages upon their bad luck, which is their way of 
accusing providence. This is both unjust and sinful. 

As on a former occasion, so here, their shout was 
Samson's battle cry. No doubt, their boisterous praise 
of Dagon was a great mortification to him. He knew 
they ascribed their success against him to their god, and 
regarded his fall and disgrace as a proof that Dagon 
had triumphed over Jehovah. Ah ! the dishonor that 
he felt he had brought upon his religion was his keenest 
grief. His captivity, blindness, and bodily sufferings 
were nothing to him in comparison with his agony for 
having sinned against the living and true God. It was 
true then, and it is true now, the heathen judge of the 
christian's God, not so much by his creed and catechism 
as by his conduct and condition in the world. The man- 
ners and modes of dealing with the heathen practiced by 
merchants and travellers form the heathen idea of chris- 



SAMSON MAKING SPORT. 301 

tianity more directly than any other source of influence. 

" And it came to pass when their hearts were merry, 
that they said, Call for Samson that he may make us 
sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison- 
house, and he made them sport : and they set him be- 
tween the pillars." 

Milton says Samson at first refused to attend their 
feast to make sport before Dagon, but being at length 
persuaded inwardly that it was an ^occasion from God, 
he went. They had power to compel his attendance 
whether he would or not. He was powerless in their 
hands. It is not stated here what kind of sport he was 
to make. The Septuagint and Josephus think their 
purpose was to insult him, and make him a laughing- 
stock. According to the Septuagint, "they buffeted 
him." Josephus says : " He was brought out that they 
might insult him in" their cups." At all events, they 
would have no other sport but from the great Hebrew. 
He who had been their terror, must now be their play. 
Every man, woman and boy could now laugh at the blind 
hero, that had once been their most fearful enemy. 
Scorn is added to misery : insult to injury. No doubt 
Samson was ready to wish himself deaf as well as blind, 
that he might not hear their cruel jests and horrid blas- 
phemies. Whether Samson amused them first with some 
attempts at extraordinary strength, as he was made the 
butt of their jests or not, he did at last make sport for 
them with a vengeance. In the East it was common at 
their feasts to have athletic sports. 

But now that the heathen have triumphed, will not 
God arise ? Now that Samson has repented, as did 
Peter with many bitter tears, and is forgiven — and his 



302 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

hair has grown and he is again in covenant with his 
God, how shall his enemies escape ? For if judgment 
begin in God's own house and upon his own chosen ser- 
vants, what shall be the end of the ungodly, who obey- 
not his voice ? Surely it is the hour of long pent up 
and terrible vengeance. May not Samson now vindi- 
cate the superiority of Jehovah over the false Philistine 
god ? Yes ; the whole scene is now changed. The 
contest is no longer between the Hebrew judge and 
the Philistine lords, but between Dagon and Jehovah. 
The battle is now to rage on Mount Olympus, and 
Troy is to be lost or won in heaven, and not on the 
dusty plains below. From Hebrews xi, it is clear 
that Samson's prayer (twenty-eighth verse) was the 
prayer of sincere faith. It was through faith he pre- 
vailed. If he had not been truly penitent, and had not 
been accepted of God, his last prayer could not have 
been successful. His struggle of mind must have been 
great. But out of despair he gathered hope, as his ene- 
mies increased in their boisterous blasphemy. The 
case seemed a desperate one. The temple is full of 
men and women, making themselves merry at his ex- 
pense, and in blaspheming the living God. He begins 
again to feel the Spirit of God stirring him as in years 
long since past. His sun of Austerlitz again rises. He 
remembers that the great commission from heaven 
announced for him before he was born, was to begin to 
deliver Israel from the Philistines. He asks himself, 
may it not be that now I shall be able to vindicate 
the superiority of God Almighty over this wretched 
idol, whom his enemies are worshipping ? May it not 
be that for this hour I have been spared, and that now 



HOAV SAMSON DIED. 303 

I may most wonderfully redeem my great commission ? 
And he called upon the Lord, and he said, Lord 
God, remember me, L pray thee, and strengthen me, J 
pray thee, only this once, God. And he took hold 
of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood 
and on which it was borne up, of the one ivith his right 
hand, and of the other with his left, and said, Let me 
die ivith the Philistines. 

Solemnly re-dedicating himself to God, consecrating 
his life as a patriot and a martyr, if God would now be 
pleased to accept it, as the last, best and only offering 
he had to make — praying this once more to be heard, 
and that he might die with the Philistines, fulfilling in 
his last act and dying moment the terrible mission for 
which he had been raised up ; and as he prayed he 
bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell 
upon the lords and upon all the people that were 
therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were 
more than they which he slew in his life. Neither 
Leonidas nor Lord Nelson had a death so terribly sub- 
lime. His was not the suicide's death, but that of a 
martyr who consecrates himself to death, if such is 
God's will, in the performance of duty or the mainte- 
nance of truth. The result proves that God did gra- 
ciously condescend to hear his prayer, and to accept his 
consecration. For without direct supernatural power 
he could not have thus prevailed over his enemies. 

V. It has been objected that Samson's last prayer is 
not the prayer of a dying christian — that it breathes 
the spirit of revenge, which is wholly unbecoming a 
pious man at any time, and much less so in his dying 
moments. To this we reply : 



304 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

1st. However comforting it may be to a dying man 
himself and to his surrounding friends to utter nothing 
but pious words, ecstatic hopes and fervent supplica- 
tions — however desirable it may be to die in the full 
assurance of heaven, almost in sight of the celestial 
city, as Stephen did — still such experiences and dying 
deliverances are not required to prove our acceptance 
with God. A man may be a godly man, and die with- 
out such ecstatic joys. The operations of the divine 
spirit are manifold. Our experience and utterances of 
inward life are molded very much by our temperaments 
and style of education. Holiness is essential to the en- 
joyment of God. And holiness is a habitude, rather 
than a spasm or temporary emotion. And ordinarily 
this spiritual habitude is the growth of a life of prayer 
and godliness under the culture of the divine spirit. 
The life and faith, and not the feelings of a man in his 
dying moments, are to be taken as exponents of his state 
in the sight of God. 

2diy. Samson was educated out of the law of the 
Lord, which required " an eye for an eye, and a tooth 
for a tooth." Retaliation was his catechism. I do not 
now consider why such was the law of Moses. The 
fact is certain. But it is equally certain that our Lord 
alludes to this very law of Moses, and changes it, say- 
ing, it shall no longer be " an eye for an eye ; " but I 
say unto you, " resist not evil with evil ; pray for your 
enemies ; forgive them ; do good to them that despite- 
fully use you, that you may become the children of your 
father which is in heaven." Samson had not then 
before him, as we have, the example of the meek and 
suffering man-Almighty. He had not his history in the 



SAMSON A SOLDTEK. 305 

garden, and in Pilate's hall, and on the cross. He had 
not heard the prayer, nor any such an one : " Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do." It is 
not fair, therefore, for us to pronounce on the prayer of 
the penitent and dying judge from our stand-point of 
gospel light, but according to the light of Moses' dis- 
pensation. We should not expect him to die as Paul 
did. His mission arid character belong wholly to a 
different dispensation. 

3dly. We must remember that Samson's prayer was 
in keeping with his divine commission. As a soldier, 
he dies in the heat of the battle with his armor on. If 
it was right for him to bear his commission to destroy 
the Philistines for the vindication of God and the de- 
liverance of Israel from their oppressors, then Ms death 
was in the way of duty. He was sent to execute divine 
judgments on the oppressors of God's people. He did 
not, therefore, throw his life away. He did not lay rash 
hands upon himself. He did not know what the final 
result would be, but as every other soldier who goes 
into battle for his country and for the truth of God, he 
puts his life in jeopardy. He takes it in his hand, ready 
at any moment to offer it up as a sacrifice. As his hair 
had grown, his experience of divine grace had in- 
creased ; until now, when God's enemies were at the 
very highest point of exultation and defiance, the Spirit 
of the Lord moved him once more — first, to say, 
Lord God, remember me, I pray thee ; only this once, 
God, and then moved him to lean against the pillars 
and take hold of them, and at the same time stirred him 
up to further prayer, saying, If such is now the divine 
will, in fulfilling my commission, let me even die with 



306 THE GTAXT JUDGE. 

the Philistines. And the Lord heard his prayer, ac- 
cepted the offering of his body and soul, and in his 
death he slew more than in all his life. 

"- Samson hath quit himself 

Like Samson, and heroiciy hath finished 
A life heroic.'* 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE EPILOGUE AND ITS TEACHINGS. 

" Like a visitant 

From th 1 other world, he comes as if to haunt 
Thy guilty soul with dreams of lost delight, 
Long lost to all but memory's aching sight : — 

As when the spirit of our youth 

Returns in sleep, sparkling with all the truth 
And innocence once ours, and leads us back 
In mournful mockery, o'er the shining track 
Of our young life, and points out evei'.y ray 
Of hope and peace we've lost upon the way." 

Lalla Rookh. 

The late venerable Dr. Miller of Princeton, N. J., 
who was one of the most perfect and well balanced men 
as a scholar, theologian and christian gentleman this 
country has ever produced, used to say, that if a student 
had sense enough to bear it, it was an advantage to put 
him to studying a text book that required some correc- 
tions, for the detection of the errors and their correction 
helped amazingly to keep up the attention, and draw out 
his own resources. There is certainly such a thing as 
being so straight as to lean over. There may be so much 
straining of rules as to destroy all the benefits of disci- 
pline. Children were made to play as well as study, to 
laugh heartily as well as to think seriously. The bow 



308 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

always bent is sometimes converted into a straight jacket. 
To laugh well is a medicine for the body and the mind, 
and to be able to wonder well is a great blessing. One 
of the old fathers^ and may his shadow never be less, 
Clemens Alexandrinus, says : " The beginning of truth 
is to wonder, for this proceeds from conscious ignorance." 
The old Stagyrite had taught almost the same thing before 
the Alexandrine was born, when he said, it is by wonder- 
ing men begin to love philosophy and to grow wise. 
(Metaph. 1, 2, Arist.) It is true, however, that there is 
a kind of foolish wonder, that does not promise much 
good — but even that is not so hopeless as ignorance so 
profound as to be unconscious of its own existence. It 
were better men should be astrologers than that they 
should be so stupid as not to know that there are any 
stars over their heads. I should rather undertake to 
teach those that are stone-blind, than those who are so 
stupid and indolent that they will not open their eyes ; 
for the stone-blind feel and acknowledge their blindness, 
and may learn to read without eyes ; whereas the others 
are so self-sufficient and content with their blindness that 
they either deny that they are blind at all, or declare it 
best to be blind. Nothing is so hopeless as ignorance 
too complete to wonder ; for then there are no errors 
that may lead to a knowledge of truth. If the begin- 
ning of wisdom is to fear God and know ourselves, then 
may we say that the faculty to wonder is a shadow of 
something beautiful and good to come. I do not belong 
to the school that would blot out from our juvenile litera- 
ture the seven wise men of Gotham, Blue Beard, Jack 
the giant killer, Robinson Crusoe, the Arabian Nights, 
and fairy tales in general. By no means. In judicious 



samson's life profitable. 309 

hands this species of literature is invaluable for training 
and purifying the youthful mind. It were far better to 
excite the love of the marvelous, and even of the terri- 
bly sublime than of the gross and sensual. After the 
nursery period well employed, some five or six authors 
are quite enough to train the intellect and heart. Who 
needs to know more than he can learn from the Bible, 
Homer, Dante, Shakspeare, Bacon, and Milton, and a 
few standard historians ? 

The sacred story of Israel's giant judge is a wonder- 
ful one, but it is as true as marvelous. It is a simple 
earnest, straight forward narrative of a man — a real 
man, and of what he did, and of what befell him in just 
such a world as we live in, and among mem women and 
children exactly such as we are. We believe the Bible 
Samson is the original of all the stories of Hercules that 
fill so many pages of heathen literature. And by excit- 
ing attention to his life, we hope, on the love of the won- 
derful to plant a lever that shall turn the whole heart to 
truth. Joseph, Daniel, Nehe-miah and various other 
Bible heroes are more to our liking; but, if "there is," 
as the bard of Avon says, " a history in all men's lives," 
I fancy Samson's is not an exception, and as his biogra- 
phy has been given to us by the Holy Spirit, it is our 
duty to remove objections to it, and see what it teaches 
us. As already intimated, Samson's acts are more for 
our wonder than for our imitation ; nevertheless impor- 
tant principles are unfolded in his history. Much as 
Milton's Samson Agonistes is to be admired as a whole, 
it seems to us, he wholly fails to appreciate his character. 
The dying speech which he puts into his mouth as he 
pulls down the temple is not true to the text, nor worthy 



810 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

of the occasion. It falls far below our idea of Samson 
in that awful moment. His enemies were in force 
around him, mocking him and his God. He knew that 
it was their custom on such occasions, after they had 
satisfied themselves with feasting and sport, to sacrifice 
their chief prisoner to their gods. In this great extrem- 
ity, therefore, he betook himself to prayer for grace to 
triumph in a martyr's death, if the Lord would be pleased 
to grant him such an honor. Having eyes now to see 
him who is invisible, he said : " Lord God, I pray thee 
think upon me ; O Lord God, I beseech thee strengthen 
me at this time only. For thy great name's sake — for 
thy glory among the heathen, help me, O Lord, help me 
this one time." It was zeal for the divine glory, and to 
retrieve the honor of the God of his fathers, that had 
been tarnished by his fall, that made him so anxious 
now to die in such a way as to fulfill in his death more 
fully than he had done in his life, the mission for which 
he had been raised up. As he knew he was now about 
to die, he seized this as the last opportunity to deliver 
Israel and show that Jehovah and not Dagon was the 
true and living God. In his death scene, therefore, we 
see fast by his side again the presence of the Angel — 

" Who from his father's field 
Rode up in flames 

From off the altar, where an offering hurn'd 
As in a fieiy column charioting." 

When dying we see him filled again with — ■ 

" That Spirit that first rushed upon him in the camp of Dan." 

The lordly city of Gaza speaks then to us historically, 
from a period beyond which the memory of man runneth 



gaza's ruins still teaching. 811 

not. It was once the treasure-honse of a Persian con- 
queror, as indeed its name is supposed to signify. But 
how its name came to be prophetic of its treasures, we 
know not. True, Philistine Sheikhs, Arabian Emirs, 
Assyrian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman con- 
querors and kings have battled for its gates. Saladin 
the magnificent and Richard the lion-heart, and Napo- 
leon the great took some of life's stern lessons under the 
skies that still look down on Gaza. Ancient Gaza is all 
in ruins — shapeless, nameless ruins — capitals, archi- 
traves, columns, cornices and marble floors, the cedar, fir 
and acacias, alabaster and granite, that once echoed to 
the shouts of the worshippers of the great fish god, though 
now unlettered still utter forth a loud and distinctly 
articulate voice. Its stores of wine and oil, and treas- 
ures of jewels and costly spices are no more ; but Gaza 
still has for us treasures more valuable — lessons of in- 
struction and warning — not only to those who are driv- 
ing through life with a Jehu speed in fulfilling the lusts 
of the eye and the pride of the mind ; but for all, old 
and young, and of every class. The marvelous career 
of the giant judge, and his tragical end is a lesson for 
our every-day life. 

1. Samson's life illustrates God's long-suffering and 
mercy. When evil doers are allowed for a time to go 
on in prosperity, they should not presume, for there is a 
righteous God, that judgeth in the earth ; and when his 
judgments fall on the guilty, he will cut short his awful 
work in terrible righteousness. But mercy is remem- 
bered amidst deserved wrath. The penitent is not there- 
fore to despair, for God is merciful as well as just. 
Samson mav fall into the hands of the Philistines ; even 



312 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

the ark of God may be in the camp of the uncircum- 
cised, and be brought into the temple of their great 
Dagon ; but Jehovah is still supreme over all the gods. 
His arm is still omnipotent. There is indeed no god but 
God. The idols of the heathen are all vanity and lies. 
The ruins of the house of the Philistine lords and the 
dismembered image of Dagon in his own temple before 
Jehovah's ark are directly in proof, that their god is not 
as our God, even our enemies themselves being judges. 

2. Jehovah is the only sovereign. His government is 
supreme over all tribes and nations. The history of the 
Canaanites, Philistines and Hebrews proves that it is 
Jehovah's pleasure to take cognizance of all his creatures 
on earth — to observe and rule over them as families, 
peoples and individuals. As all the spokes of a wheel 
turn round when the wheel revolves, so a general provi- 
dence necessarily implies a particular oversight of all the 
universe. How else could there have been any proph- 
ecy, or fulfillment of promises ? In the prophecies ful- 
filled, and in those yet to be accomplished, we find an 
individual and a national application. The prophecies 
referred sometimes in part to the personal history of the 
individual, but generally or chiefly to his posterity. This 
is true of Abraham, Ishmael, Esau and Jacob. Hence 
the distinctness with which the line of their descendants 
was preserved. It were a great gain for the politics and 
economics of communities and nations, if the providence 
of God were more distinctly recognized. Every chap- 
ter of our national history is replete with proofs of God's 
presence. His hand has written all our history. 

3. Again, it appears that God governs the world upon 
eternal principles — and not from fancy or passion. These 



DIVINE LAWS APFLIED. 313 

principles are still in actual operation. A 'priori we 
should argue that such must be the divine government 
of the universe. And historically we find it preeminently 
so. The Creator is as really supreme over modern 
nations, as over ancient nations. Jehovah was as truly 
the God of Washington as of Moses, only Moses was his 
lieutenant in an age of miracles. It is as true now as 
it was then, that sin defiles a land, and that God blesses 
obedience and punishes disobedience to his laws. Divine 
laws in morals are as immutable as in physics. God is 
just as supreme in the streets of the city as in the path- 
ways of the planets. His ear is as open to prayer now 
in San Francisco as it ever was in Solomon's temple. 
And happiness everywhere, in heaven and earth, is 
nothing but a full hearted, cheerful harmony with the 
will of God. In keeping his commandments, there is 
great reward. 

4. When patience has done its perfect work — when 
the hour of retribution has fully come, then there is no 
escape from the Almighty. The universe itself in ruins 
and in heaps upon heaps upon the guilty could not hide 
them from the all-seeing eye, nor prevent him from 
bringing them to judgment. The old world, the Egyp- 
tians, the cities of the plain and the history of the 
chosen people, as well as of the Philistines and Canaan- 
ites proves this. 

5. But Samson's life illustrates divine laws in their 
application as well as in theory. In solving the riddle 
of his character we have truth objective and subjective. 
The glimpses we get of his spiritual life are sad enough. 
His weakness and inconsistencies ars so mortifying as to 
be almost incredible. His infatuation for Philistine 

N 



314 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

women rendered him apparently blind to their heathen- 
ism and their enmity towards Israel. Philistine maids 
frequently vanquished the champion that was to deliver 
Israel out of the hands of their oppressive countrymen. 
An old writer very nearly expresses the facts of this 
history, when he says, it was not so much Samson that 
overcame the Philistine men, as Philistine women that 
conquered Samson. 

6. Sin is an awfully steep precipice, and as slippery 
as steep* I know we are ready to cry out at Samson's 
stupidity and Delilah's impudent treachery. And truly 
never was a man so overcome by flagons of wine, as 
this Nazarite was by his love for Delilah. We are 
almost ready to think Samson must have been void of 
common sense, when, after she had betrayed him three 
times, he should listen to her fourth proposal, and actu- 
ally yield. And yet are there none of you, that have 
yielded to temptation not only three times, and then a 
fourth time, but ten times ten ? Is not every trans- 
gressor against God's laws as stupid as our infatuated 
judge ? Sinful pleasures lodged and entertained in our 
bosoms are as dangerous and as treacherous as Delilah. 
In our better moments we know they aim at nothing 
less than our destruction. We know the wages of sin 
is death, and yet we yield ! Every one that yields to 
the intoxicating cup, to the strange woman's smiles, or 
to the demon of fraud or of gambling, is like Samson 
sleeping in Delilah's lap, to wake up bereft of strength 
• and peace of mind. Thrice the armed Philistines came 
out of their hiding-place to bind him, and yet he yields 
to the fourth temptation. Oh, what madness ! Fly at 
once. Eesist the devil and he will flee from you. But 



THE LIBERTINE'S HISSING MILLSTONE. 315 

if you parley with him, he will bind you fast in his 
chains. 

All sins hang together like links in a chain. Delilah 
was a heathen. She had not the fear of God before 
her eyes, and as she wanted virtue, it is not strange 
that she was perfidious. And so like india-rubber is 
conscience now-a-days 5 that, if it is used at all, it is 
easily stretched, and though hard to be washed clean, it 
is nevertheless often turned. So naturally and lovingly 
do sinful ways run together and follow each other, that 
men do often educate their conscience to call good evil, 
and evil good ; and " compound for sins they are in- 
clined to, by damning those they have no mind to." If, 
in straining at the gnat, they do not swallow a camel the 
first time, they will soon be able, from repeated trials, 
to swallow the whole caravan, gnats and all. The liar 
is not satisfied till he steals. And the thief soon kills ; 
the drunkard is as lewd as he is full of wine, and she 
that traffics with her personal charms is as false as she 
is vile. And he that dwells with a concubine, to avoid 
the manly responsibilities of a lawful family, finds in 
the end that instead of having a jewel around his neck, 
he has bound himself, soul and body, to a burning mill- 
stone, that is dragging him hissing down to the pit. A 
person given up to one sin is sold to iniquity. By 
yielding to one sin, a greater susceptibility is created 
for others, and in the same proportion he is shorn of 
strength to resist temptation and to maintain his hold on 
virtue. He that does not make it a matter of con- 
science to abide by right principles in everything and 
every where, is not to be trusted in anything. 

7. We see that an ill-balanced character is a sadly de- 



316 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

fective one. If Samson had been as prudent as he was 
strong, as pious as he was patriotic, what a splendid 
hero he would have been ! But symmetry of character 
is also sadly wanting in modern times. Some are re- 
markable for their zeal, who make their public concern 
for the conversion of men cover their want of attention 
to their own families. But can a man be called of God 
to one duty at the expense of another — and in this 
case of a prior and paramount one ? Others are re- 
markable for their denominational or church zeal, but 
their daily walk is so irregular, that even when they are 
not absolutely guilty of moral delinquencies in the sight 
of the law, their advocacy of religion is not a recom- 
mendation. Others are text-quoting defenders of the 
Bible, but the light that is in them is smothered. The 
word of God dwells in them, but is not friutful. They 
are cold as icicles. Another takes the Bible for his 
directory. He loves its truth, and he has some experi- 
mental knowledge of divine grace in his heart ; but he 
is so ill-tempered, so peevish, so irritable, that the sym- 
metry of his character is destroyed. Men admit his 
sincerity of purpose, but wonder that so good a man 
should be so weak as to allow himself to be carried 
away with passion. O how much would the church 
gain if all its members were complete in Christ ! 

8. In Samson's life we see that constitutional sins are 
peculiarly dangerous. It is true God employs men as 
his agents, who are not perfect. Even great men are 
not without errors. Believers on earth are not saints 
glorified. In the course of this work it has been inti- 
mated several times that we have only a skeleton history 
of the giant judge. Of long periods we have no me- 



THE NATION'S FOUNDATION STONES. 317 

moir at all, and of great achievements we have but a 
simple record of the fact. His faults are detailed. His 
good deeds not so fully chronicled. If we may say so 
without irreverence, our narrative does not seem to take 
pleasure in his exploits, but simply to set forth how 
divine sovereignty overruled them. His attachment to 
the Timnite, his fall at Gaza, and his blind affection for 
Delilah, and his conflicts with the Philistines are re- 
corded so far as seemed to be necessary to furnish us 
with the proof that the promise to his parents was faith- 
fully kept, and no more. It seems almost as if infinite 
wisdom here illustrated how sorry an agent might per- 
form mighty deeds, and how sovereign grace could at 
last reign where sin had abounded. 

9. Samson's life very properly leads us to the purity, 
sacredness and stability of the marriage relation. The 
family is the foundation stone for national well-being. 
We must at any price, at any and every sacrifice, pre- 
serve our christian homes, as the fountains of principle 
and piety. And never was there an age nor a people 
with whom so much depended upon the maintenance of 
sound principles and of true religion in the family as 
with us. If we yield here all is lost. Our public in- 
stitutions will be as the new cords on Samson's arms, 
mere cinders, if the principles of high morality and true 
religion are not taught in our homes. Thorough train- 
ing and instruction must be given to the children of this 
Republic. And this work must be begun early at home, 
and continued long at home, and the school must never 
supersede the home. We have found Manoah's solici- 
tude about the bringing up of his angel-announced son 
natural and proper. It is a great mistake to consider 
N* 



318 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

the education of a child an individual blessing rather 
than a general one — personal, rather than social. The 
advantages of education are indeed personal, and just 
in so far as they are a blessing to the individual mem- 
bers of society, in the same degree they are a bless- 
ing to society itself. The Bible teaches us that no one 
has a right to segregate himself from his fellow-men, 
with Cain-like indifference, for their well-being, But 
an educated mind has extensive relations with the 
world. It is then contrary to the first and highest 
claims of humanity that it should refuse to shed its 
benign influences upon society. Nay, it is impossible 
to escape such a responsibility. Intellect can no more 
exist without responsibility than matter without gravi- 
tation. Responsibility is as inseparable from our indi- 
vidual existence as our personal identity. Escape from 
it is as impossible as annihilation. We must, then, 
meet it as men, and justify the claims of God and man 
upon us, or turn traitors to the society of the universe 
and its ineffable Creator. In the measure, therefore, 
that we are blessed with talents, faculties and attain- 
ments, are our responsibilities increased. Where much 
is given, much is required. He that knows his Lord's 
will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. 
As the glory of a State is but the aggregated glory of 
its several citizens, so whatever contributes to the men- 
tal enjoyment, social worth, productive industry, com- 
mercial reputation for integrity, and to the moral 
elevation of the individual members of the State, must 
be regarded as contributing also to its welfare and glory. 
The received maxim, then, that it is easier and cheaper 
to prevent crime than to vindicate the laws and reform 



THE IONIAN ISLANDS A WARNING. 319 

the transgressor, should be universally put into practice. 
The vices of ignorance and depravity cost the State 
more than school-houses and teachers. The public 
safety under a free government requires that all the 
youth be instructed in knowledge and morality. And 
in attaining such blessings the greatest good of individ- 
uals is identical with that of the community. For a 
number of years there has been no want of energy on 
the part of the press of Great Britain and this country 
in advocating the enlightenment of the people in order 
to the enjoyment of free institutions. We are almost 
wearied with references to Greece and Rome, and the 
attempts at Republics in past ages by people not capa- 
ble of preserving freedom, nor indeed able to compre- 
hend what it is. The Ionian islands is a remarkable 
instance, however, that is not so often referred to. Their 
history is a striking illustration of the hopelessness of a 
people undertaking to govern themselves without the 
requisite intelligence, morality and religion. They have 
played very nearly the same game for many years. 
" Three times, at very wide intervals, has Corfu, (the 
ancient Corcyra,) found it necessary to abnegate, more 
or less completely, a political independence of which it 
was incapable, and to place itself under the sovereignty 
or protection of the power which in each of those re- 
spective ages was mistress of the seas."* At one time 
Corcyra was obliged to seek abroad refuge from her 
own selfish policy and her own internal factions by 
throwing herself into the arms of Athens. At another 
time she was compelled to seek protection against her- 

* London Quarterly Review, October, 1852, p. 168. 



320 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

self under the banner of Venice. And then again from 
an abortive attempt to form a Republic, the Ionians 
threw themselves at the feet of Russia, then of France, 
and finally passed under the protectorate of Great 
Britain. In 1802 they sent M. Naranzi as envoy to 
Alexander, Emperor of Russia, begging that with an 
" imposing armed force," he would save them from the 
cruel sufferings of their attempts at self-government. 
They directed their envoy to say to the Czar : " That 
the inhabitants of the seven islands, who had attempted 
to establish a republican form of government, are neither 
born free, nor are they instructed in any art of govern- 
ment, nor are they possessed of moderation so as to live 
peaceably under any government formed by their own 
countrymen^ This was certainly very remarkable lan- 
guage for a people having intelligence enough to struggle 
to be free, and yet not able to govern themselves. But 
all history is a demonstration of its correctness. Italy 
and France, Central and South America are monu- 
ments proving to all the world that sanctified intelli- 
gence among the people alone can save them from the 
cruelties of self-government. Mere knowlege is not 
enough. There must be constitutional laws, and right 
principles must be deeply implanted in the bosoms of 
those that would be free. Men can not govern them- 
selves unless they abide immutably by the laws and 
constitution that guarantee their freedom. The great 
English historian, (Macaulay's speech at Edinburgh,) 
has in his usually happy way described the very danger 
we so seriously apprehend. " I remember," says, he, 
" that Adam Smith and Gibbon had told us that there 
would never again be a destruction of civilization by 



DUTY OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERS. 321 

barbarians. The flood, they said, would no more return 
to cover the earth ; and they seemed to reason justly, 
for they compared the immense strength of the civilized 
part of the world with the weakness of that part which 
remained savage, and asked from whence were to come 
those Huns, and from whence were to come those Van- 
dals, who were again to destroy civilization ? Alas ! it 
did not occur to them that civilization itself might 
engender the barbarians who should destroy it. It did 
not occur to them that in the very heart of great capi- 
tals, in the very neighborhood of splendid palaces, and 
churches, and theatres, and libraries, and museums, vice 
and ignorance and misery might produce a race of 
Huns fiercer than those who marched under Attilla, 
and Vandals more bent on destruction than those who 
followed Genzerie." 

10. Samson is a pictorial of a mother's anxiety and 
■influence. We have no powers of analysis sufficient to 
disintegrate the virtue, and freedom, and prosperity of 
modern Christendom, so as to show the proportion and 
amount of its well-doing and well-being that is dis- 
tinctly to be traced to the influence of christian mothers ; 
but it is paramount to all other sources of power. For 
example, who can measure the forming energy of 
Washington upon the destinies of the American peo- 
ple and of the world ? And yet in the chronicles of 
the invisible world the character of that great patriot 
was formed by the training of his mother. And upon 
examination, we And his mother's favorite author to 
have been the great christian judge, the English Sir 
Matthew Hale. The identical copy she used is still 
cherished as an heir-loom, in the family. Now in the 



&WI THE GIANT JUDGE. 

" Contemplations " of Sir Matthew Hale we have an 
essay on "The Good Steward," and a series of " Medi- 
tations " on the Lord's Prayer. And in these works of 
the learned and pious judge, we find the germs of 
Washington's great character. These works were his 
mother's manual when she was training him for the 
high destinies for which a supreme providence was pre- 
paring him. Here we have the very principles taught, 
and the very precepts inculcated, that were fitted to pro- 
duce the traits characteristic of the American patriot. 
Moderation, self-control, sobriety, integrity, and a well- 
balanced judgment, and an habitual recognition of God's 
will and dependence on an overruling providence, have 
great prominence in the Briton's pages. And these 
are the very elements of Washington's character. More 
than one hundred times we find him in his letters, 
speaking of his dependence on God's providence. And 
throughout his life, we have "the composure of the 
Areopagus carried into the struggles of Thermopylae." 
The beauty and the glory of his character is its combi- 
nation of integrity, moral goodness, heroic courage, 
with judicial sagacity and serenity amid all the fierce 
conflicts of a great and successful Revolution. What 
mother is there, then, who is not willing to forego some, 
or all of the pleasures of fashion, and spend her strength 
in teaching, and toiling, and praying for her child, see- 
ing that it is given to her by the Great Father of all 
spirits more than to any other to unseal the fountain of 
its being and form the channel in which it is to flow 
forever ? The mother's example and lessons are the 
passages of experimental divinity and social philosophy 
that are never forgotten. By them we both live and 



RESPONSIBILITY OF YOUNG MEN. 323 

die. The tribute which one of our Chief Magistrates, 
John Quincy Adams, paid to his mother, expresses 
what almost every one feels to be true. " It is due," 
said he, " to gratitude and nature, that I should acknowl- 
edge and avow that, such as I have been, whatever it 
was, such as I am, whatever it is, and such as I hope 
to be in all futurity, must be ascribed, under provi- 
dence, to the precepts, prayers and example of my 
mother." 

Finally. We beseech you, young men, because you 
are strong, remember your responsibility for your influ- 
ence upon society. You are invested with an immor- 
tality that you cannot lay aside. When you die and leave 
the world into which you have been born, your influence 
will walk the earth and represent you where you person- 
ally will be known no more. Aim then by God's help 
to be a fountain of good influences and not of evil. In 
Samson you have a solemn warning against the wiles of 
the strange woman of whom Solomon has said : " I find 
more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares 
and nets, and her hands are bands ; whoso pleaseth God 
shall escape from her ; but the sinner shall be taken by 
her." 

Forget not your dedication to God, nor disappoint the 
just expectations of your friends. Ponder well what 
your country expects of you. Remember your patri- 
mony and your age. Fill your minds with objects 
illustrious as your antecedents are hopeful. You are 
surrounded by living voices calling you to maintain the 
principles and faith of sires past into glory. Put on the 
whole armor of light, and by self-control, and by high 
principles, and by an incorruptible love for truth and for 



324 THE GIANT JUDGE. 

your country, rebuke whatever billows may rise to 
threaten the ark of your fathers, and make them roll at 
your feet soft as the swelling of a summer's sea. Serve 
well your generation according to the will of God, and 
then when you are laid to rest, though it be far from the 
home of your youth, and in dust that knoweth not the 
bones of your fathers, still you will rest in peace, and the 
everlasting God will be your eternal portion. What- 
ever good you do in the world will live and come home 
with its harvest of glory at the judgment day ; and 
whatever evil you do, if not repented of and forgiven, 
will go on increasing its guilt until it is garnered on your 
heart amid the awful realities of eternity. They that 
turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars of the 
firmament forever and ever ; and they that have turned 
many to evil shall burn as pyramids of fire, embosoming 
like so many unquenchable molochs, the souls of those 
they have seduced from truth and innocence and drag- 
ged down to ruin, and the curses of all good men and of 
all the holy angels, and of God Almighty shall fall upon 
them forever and ever. 

And thou, my son, know thou the God of thy father, 
and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing 
mind : for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understand- 
eth all the imaginations of the thoughts : if thou seek him, 
he ivill be found of thee: if thou forsake him, he will cast 
thee off forever. 



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